Thanks for all the reviews. I see we've got some new readers to the site (or new reviewers anyways!) which is always nice. Hopefully some of you will take a shot at writing your own! It's always nice seeing new stuff!

When Liliya woke up, she could feel Mikhail's breath on the back of her neck, his nose buried in her hair, and his lips just barely resting on the nape of her neck. His arm was around her waist, his hand splayed across her stomach and had made it's way under the fabric of her top, his fingers moving across her flesh with every breath he or she took. His leg was draped over hers, keeping her close. It was unusual for him to be so affectionate. He was not one to cuddle. He usually stayed on his side of the bed, and she on hers. Even after they had been intimate, there were no moments of tenderness, before or after. He got what he wanted, and then fell asleep...away from her. Not touching, on his side of the bed, leaving her feeling empty and no better than a prostitute...used and unloved. And that's the way it had always been since they were married. Even before he lost the family business. She knew that wasn't normal behavior. She knew that other men were capable of love and affection. But it wasn't his thing. She was used to it. Which is why she was surprised to find herself in this current position. What had made him change? Why now was he all of a sudden holding her like a husband should hold a wife? She placed her arm over his and laced her fingers with his. She brought his hand up to kiss his knuckles and noticed something...his wedding band was missing...And when did he get home from the war? The war?! The soldier?!

"BOZHE MOY! GET OFF ME YANKEE!" She yells as she throws his arm off her and jumps out of the bed.

"OWWW!" He yells as he grabs his shoulder in pain and rolls onto his back. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I wasn't...I was asleep. That's how I sleep, on my side. But my arm...it hurt. I guess, I needed to prop it up on something...and I wasn't thinking. I was asleep. I didn't know. I guess I forgot where I was and thought you were Tracy. I didn't know. I'm sorry," Walker rambled on and on, repeating himself, but not able to come up with anything convincing. He knew she was angry. He knew he'd blown it. All her hospitality was done. She should just kick him out right now.

"It is ok. I...I over reacted."

"No, you reacted just right. I knew I should have slept on the floor. I'm sorry I made you uncomfortable. I wasn't trying to pull anything, I promise. You've been so kind and generous to me...I would never take advantage of that."

"I know. I do not know how I know. After all, I have just met you...and yet, I trust you," she says.

"It sure didn't sound like you trusted me, the way you yelled and threw my arm off you..."

"I KNOW! I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?"

"I'll live. It's my pride that's hurt more than anything...I'm not used to having girls run away from me so quickly," he jokes.

"Oh is that so? Well I am sorry to have damaged your ego. Maybe if I was not married..." she stops, realizing that her joke might be taken the wrong way.

"If you weren't married, what?"

"I..." Would not have minded? Would not have stopped you? "I would not have felt so...inappropriate," she explains.

"I'm sorry. I can't say it enough. You shouldn't be the one that feels like you did anything inappropriate. That is all on me."

"I just feel..." she sits back down on the bed, her back to him.

"What do you feel?" he asks quietly as he sits up, swings his feet around so that they are on the floor, and he is sitting next to her. He places his hand on the bed, next to hers, barely touching.

She opens her mouth to speak, but she can't say what she wants to say to him.

"Well? What does she feel?!" Wheeler asks.

"Guilty," Linka whispers.

"Why?"

"Because...because...she likes how he makes her feel. Because no one else has ever made me feel this way before."

"You mean her?"

"What?"

"You said no one else has ever made you feel this way before...but you meant to say 'her' right?" he asks.

"Oh. Da. That is what I meant. Her husband never stirred up the feelings in her that the soldier was."

"She should feel sad, not guilty."

"Sad?"

"Yeah, for herself. For not allowing herself to love and be loved."

"But she cannot. She is married. It would not be right."

"What if she wasn't married?" he asks.

"Then she would allow herself to love the soldier."

"So what's stopping you?"

"Me? You mean her?"

"No, I mean you. Don't you get it Linka? This dream…it's about us. It's our subconscious trying to tell us something."

"It is just a dream. It is not us, Yankee."

"No, I think that it is us. Why else would he call her 'Babe' and she call him 'Yankee?'" he asks.

"Because in our heads…we are reminded of ourselves by these characters in our dreams. So we associate them with those that are familiar to us."

"When's the last time you had a dream about a complete stranger? I don't know about you, but when I dream…I'M in it. I dream about people that I know, not complete strangers that I've made up. Walker and Liliya are Wheeler and Linka."

"Ok fine. They are us…but this story…it is just a story. It is not like this really happened. It is just something that has been made up in our heads."

"And we're both having the same dream? That's highly unlikely."

"It is not the first time it has happened. Remember when all of us had it happen?" she asks.

"THAT REALLY HAPPENED! It wasn't a dream," he argues.

"You mean we were all really on an alien game show? Get real Wheeler."

"I am! Stop living in denial Linka!"

She sighed, resigned to give up on this argument that they always had and neither would ever win.

"Do you want to take over the story telling duties?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sure."

To Be Continued...

I know, it was short. I think the next chapter will make up for it though...oh did I just tease you? I think that I did! You'll forgive me when you read the next chapter...oops, I just teased you again!