Disclaimer: I own nothing in regard to GWTW

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

Chapter Twelve

The next day they bought new clothes for the couple to wear to the event. Rhett didn't like the style of the suits. He thought the fabric too flamboyant, but he accepted it was what was in style. They had bought Scarlett some maternity clothes. Rhett had let Scarlett buy anything she liked except a mini skirt. He encouraged her to buy a pair of Capri pants. He even told her that she could wear them while they were traveling. Wearing bright, stylish clothes made Scarlett happy and he wanted her to be happy.

They bought a couple of more formal dresses for her to wear to the tournament. Marshall had assured him the Holiday Hotel and Casino where the tournament was being held was perfectly acceptable for Scarlett to attend.

When they got home from shopping, Marshall called Jasmine around noon and told her to not fix dinner. They were going out to eat tonight. They were going to celebrate. He had just solved a big murder case that had gone cold.

When Marshall got home, he said, "We can go to that Cajun place you like so well."

Jasmine smiled and said, "No, I feel like having a steak tonight."

Over dinner Rhett asked, "How did you solve your big murder case?"

"I won't go into the details over dinner but there was an entire family killed and I had suspected it was an ex-boyfriend of the teenage daughter."

"Was it?"

"No, it was a co-worker of the wife. She had refused to have a romantic relationship with him because she loved her husband. He decided that if the husband was dead then she would fall in love with him. So, he killed the husband. He decided to get rid of her children also because he didn't want to raise someone else's children. When she told him that she would never fall in love with him no matter what he shot her too."

"How did you solve it?"

"He walked into the police station and confessed."

"Why?"

"The guilt was eating him up."

"That man must be insane."

"Yes, but not from a legal perspective."

"What do you mean?"

"As a defense a person can claim to be insane. They will go to an insane asylum instead of prison. Yet from a legal point of view, if one knows right from wrong, they can be held responsible for the crime and thus go to prison."

The foursome talked about the legal system in that day and time compared to the legal system in the nineteenth century. The conversation soon moved on to other subjects.

That night when Rhett and Scarlett were getting ready for bed, he said, "Do you think you would have done what Jasmine did tonight?"

"Not before I saw Jasmine do it. Marshall looked relieved when she said she wanted a steak. Would you have done what Marshall did tonight? Offer to go somewhere to eat that you didn't like the food at."

"Maybe but I would have grumbled and complained the entire time thus ruining the experience for you."

"Rhett, we really are selfish, self-centered people."

"We probably always will be, but we can make ourselves care about what the other person wants."

"We will have to work at it. Our marriage can't fail. Not with us alone in this new time."

"Agreed. We will have to work at it and no, our marriage can't fail. We are all we have."

"We must be a team."

In the next two weeks Rhett found a buyer for Scarlett's engagement ring. He got twenty-six thousand dollars for it. That was enough for the entry fee and enough to cover the cost of the trip.

Jasmine gave Scarlett an American History textbook for the trip. She said, "Since you are going to be with us for a while this is the quickest way to learn about everything y'all missed. You can start reading from after the Civil War."

"That is a good idea. Thank you."

As Jasmine and Marshall watched Rhett and Scarlett leave in the early morning on August twenty ninth, Jasmine said, "I wonder if we are ever going to see them again."

As they walked back into the house, Marshall said, "I have been wondering that myself. They may decide to stay in Nevada. Rhett could play poker for a living."

"I don't think Scarlett would like that."

"Yeah, but Rhett will do what he has to do to provide for them and the baby."

"I'm also worried they are going to run into danger and get themselves killed."

"I'm worried about that also. They still have a lot to learn about the twentieth century."

"Lately I've been feeling like our time travelers are going to somehow return to eighteen sixty-eight."

Marshall who after five years with Jasmine had learned to trust her feelings said, "Then I am really glad we told them of their last future. I hope they change it this time."

Within thirty minutes of having left the Wilson's home Rhett knew that Scarlett was not going to be a good traveling companion. She had been fascinated when they crossed the Mississippi River. She had not known it was that large. She had fiddled with the radio and had gotten frustrated when she couldn't find a channel she liked. After an hour she had turned the radio off declaring that all those commercials were making her head hurt.

As they drove along, Rhett said, "Would you like to learn how to drive?"

She had simply said, "No." She had continued staring out the window.

"Why don't you read your book?"

"I have finished it."

"What was your favorite part?"

She just stared at him and didn't reply. She would never tell him her favorite part was figuring how important sex was to men and she presumed Rhett. She knew Rhett loved her, but she had almost as much control over him through their sexual activity as she did through his love. Scarlett always loved having the upper hand. Of course, nowadays she certainly enjoyed their activities also. Rhett certainly wasn't just going through the motions anymore.

When Rhett knew Scarlett wasn't going to answer him, he said, "Get the textbook and let's read about the Panic of seventy-three."

"Alright."

By the time they got to Dallas late in the afternoon they have read several chapters and they were up to eighteen eighty. They had stopped reading often to discuss what the book had said. As Rhett had listen to Scarlett expound on her opinion on the historical events, he decided that his bride was a lot smarter than he had thought. She was just uneducated. He would ponder how to get her better educated.

They checked into a Holiday Inn that was right off the highway. They had dinner at a steak restaurant which both of them enjoyed. The food was different in this century, but it wasn't bad. In fact, some of the entrees were quite tasty.

Rhett got up early as was his norm. He got ready and let Scarlett sleep a little longer as he when to the motel restaurant and ordered their breakfast to go. Eating breakfast would keep Scarlett happy for the first thirty minutes. They set off for Albuquerque, New Mexico. About an hour into the trip Scarlett said, "I am ready to learn to drive."

"Next time I stop for gas, you can take over then."

"Alright."

Two hours later Rhett stopped for gas. Scarlett went to the bathroom while the gas station attendant filled up their gas tank. After using the bathroom, Scarlett went into the little store and picked up several snack items and drinks. Rhett joined her and paid for everything.

Scarlett got behind the wheel and immediately had a problem. Her feet did not touch the pedals. Rhett helped her move the seat and adjust the rearview mirror. They took off. Thirty minutes later Scarlett pulled the car to the side of the road. She said, "I am going to have to get someone else to teach me to drive. You are making me mad."

Rhett made a rude, mocking comment about her not listening to him. Scarlett glared at him. Neither spoke for several more minutes.

At last, Scarlett said, "I will get Jasmine to teach me."

"That sounds like an excellent idea. Put the car in park and I will walk around."

Scarlett did put the car in park and slid across the seat. Rhett adjusted the seat and the mirror and off they went. Rhett did note that Scarlett was an incredibly good navigator.

They managed to cover another decade in the history book. Scarlett said, "Does it seem to you that the United States gets involved in a major war just about every twenty years."

"Yes, that's how long it takes for people to forget the horrors of war."

It was late when they finally got to Albuquerque. They checked into a Ramada Hotel. They had dinner at an Italian restaurant that was next to the hotel. Scarlett liked the Italian food very much. When Rhett said, "You have garlic breath."

Scarlett smiled and said, "So do you. Is that going to stop you from kissing me?"

"Nothing will stop me from kissing you."

The next morning Rhett got up early again, got dress and got their breakfast from the hotel café. When he got back to the room, he set their food down. He turned and stared at Scarlett while she was sleeping. He really thought himself lucky that Miss Laveau had sent him and Scarlett a hundred years into the future. He had decided that his resentment of Ashley Wilkes's hold on his wife had caused great anger and bitterness in him. It had festered. It had killed his love for Scarlett.

He was quite sure Belle would have encouraged those feelings. He knew Belle was jealous of his feelings for Scarlett. He also knew that Belle thought herself in love with him. In his arrogance, he had never considered her feelings because she was just a whore.

He would never admit it to anyone else, but he knew he had hurt Scarlett because of those emotions. He had hurt the woman that he loved because of his childish immature feelings. He hoped that Scarlett never learned the real reason their marriage had failed.

Rhett had been at last able to see the truth because he had finally been sober for many days in a row. He had not gone a day without drinking since he had come home from West Point. When he was on a sea voyage, he had always made sure that there was enough whiskey on board for his needs. Even when he had been locked up at the Fire House the privates had snuck him in bottles with the promise of payment later. With sobriety the truth was crystal clear. Scarlett thought she loved Mr. Wilkes because he made her feel like that sixteen-year-old belle. He let her simper and flirt with him, and he complimented her and flirted back with her. They had both made each other feel like they had before the war. In his sobriety he could admit that there were times he wished he could feel like the twenty-year-old boy he had been before that infamous buggy ride. Rhett smiled down at Scarlett, she made him feel like that boy again. The boy that had looked forward to the future. He shook off those thoughts and woke up his pregnant wife. He thought she looked so adorable in her maternity clothes. Needless to say, she thought she looked like an elephant.

After eight hours they got to the Grand Canyon. Scarlett thought it was amazing. They spent the night at a hotel in Williams, Arizona. They drove up to the Canyon that night and looked at it. To Scarlett it was so amazing she made Rhett stay all the next morning to explore the rim of the canyon.

That afternoon as they were leaving, Scarlett talked animatedly about the canyon. Rhett said, "Believe me, Honey, there is an entire world out there for you to see."

"I know, Rhett."

When they got to Las Vegas they chose to spend the night there. Once Scarlett had settled down into the road trip, she had become a good traveling companion. Rhett continued to be amazed at her skills as a navigator. It was like she just instinctively knew which way to turn. She certainly could read the map extremely well.

On the fifth day they made it to Reno. They went to the Holiday Hotel and Casino. Rhett found where the play was going to be held and signed up. He paid his money. He gave them a fake social security number and an address in New Orleans that was an empty lot. Nobody questioned anything.

The hotel was giving them a complimentary room for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so they decided to just go ahead and get a room there for that night. When Rhett registered them, he told the desk clerk he was part of the poker tournament and could he get a discount on his room. For whatever reason the desk clerk said, "Yes, I will take half off. I need twenty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents. That includes the tax."