Hey all...I'm 28 today...in 2 more years, I'll be OLD! Remember when birthdays used to be fun and exciting? After 21, there's just nothing to look forward to! So to help ease my depression, I'm giving you a present! Enjoy this chapter. And once you finish it, go to the CP fic homepage and change the search options under ratings to "All." There's a new fic hidden under "M" by a new author. I just read it and can't wait to read the rest! Go review and add it to your alerts!!!

Once Linka told Wheeler to continue with the story and leaned against him, he put his arm around her and recalled the rest of the dream…

Liliya threw her head back and closed her eyes. Walker collapsed on top of her and buried his face against her neck. After realizing that he was probably crushing her, he rolled onto his back and had intended to pull her with him, but as soon as he rolled off her, she moved to the other side of the bed and laid on her side, her back to him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asks.

"Nothing," she says. "You were done right?"

"No."

"Oh. I thought you..."

"No…well, yeah…I was, but I meant, I wasn't done with you. Holding you. Why did you move away? Did I do something wrong? Did I hurt you? Are you ok?" he started to ramble.

"Da, I am fine. Better than fine…that was the first time I ever…with Mikhail…I never…I do not know how to say it in English…I never had...that happen…never felt that way...during...until tonight."

"Oh."

"And after…I did not know what to do…he would always just go to his side and I would go to mine and we'd fall asleep."

"I don't wanna speak badly about the dead…but he was an idiot! If you were my wife, I'd make sure it was all about you, every time. And for future reference, afterwards, we don't move to opposite sides of the bed. We do this," he pulls her into arms and holds her. He has her cradled against his side and is resting his chin atop her head.

She has her arm draped across his torso and her head is lying on his chest. She traces her fingers along his ribs and she places several kisses along his upper body.

"Now what?" she asks.

"What do you mean?"

"What happens next? Now what do we do…after?"

"Well, if quiet cuddling isn't what you had in mind…we could talk. I could tell you how beautiful you are. How great that was. How much I love you. How happy you've made me…" he says softly to her as he lightly runs his fingertips up and down her arm and down her back and then repeats his actions as he continues speaking,

"I can't even begin to describe how you make me feel. I can't get enough of you. I just wanna be with you always...and not just like this...I mean, I don't want to ever let you out of my sight because I'm afraid I'll wake up from this incredible dream...and you won't be there. I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't even know how I made it this long in life without you...what I've been missing...I can't...I don't ever want to go back to not having you as a part of my life...as a part of me...because that's how important you are to me...you're like a vital organ. I can't live without you...I wouldn't want to," he says as he nuzzles the top of her head.

He stopped talking when he felt moisture drop onto his chest and felt her take a deep, shuddering breath to compose herself. He lifted his head from atop hers and lifted her chin with his thumb so that she was looking at him. "What's wrong Babe?"

She smiles up at him, liking his nickname for her.

"Nothing is wrong. Everything is right…for the first time in my life, I feel like this is what it is supposed to be like."

"It is. This is how it's going to be for the rest of our lives, I promise," he says as he kisses her softly. "Why are you still crying?"

"Guilt."

"Over what? Mikhail?"

"Da…"

"It's ok. He's gone. You're not doing anything wrong."

"Da, I know that…but that is not why I feel guilty. When I found out that he was dead. I should have been sad right?"

"Yeah, I guess. Weren't you?"

"I am a horrible person," she whispers.

"No you're not...You cried."

"Not because I was sad. Because I felt guilty…for being relieved."

"Relieved?"

"That now that Mikhail was gone…I could be with you…or if you didn't want to be with me, at least I could not feel guilty about having the feelings that I had for you. I was relieved that I was free."

"You don't need to feel guilty anymore. It's not like he treated you like you deserved to be treated. Anyone would feel the same way you did. All anyone wants is to love and be loved in return. You have that now. You'll never have to worry about not having it ever again. I love you Babe."

"And I love you…my Yankee."

The next morning, Liliya woke up in Walker's arms. She wished she hadn't woken up. She wished she could stay there all day. Then she thought about it more…was there a good reason she needed to get out of bed? No. She could stay there all day if she wanted.

"What are you thinking?" Walker whispers in her ear and presses his lips to her temple.

She is surprised to hear him speak. She thought he was asleep.

"Did I wake you?" she asks.

"No, I've just been watching you sleep, admiring how beautiful you are, thinking about how lucky I am that fate brought us together…but you still didn't answer my question…what are you thinking?"

"The same thing. How I am the lucky one to have you in my life. I'd given up on feeling true happiness. I thought it was only true in fairytales and for a few people fortunate enough to find it. I did not think I was one of those people. I was one of the many that had settled. Then when I met you, I knew I could fall in love with you. I knew you could make me happy, but I thought I'd missed my chance because I settled too soon. But I got a second chance, and now here we are…I could stay like this forever."

"Me too…except I gotta eat."

"I will make breakfast."

"Nah, I got it. I'll go out to the barn and get some eggs. You wanna stay like this forever…so don't get up."

"I meant stay in bed in your arms…I am not going to stay in bed for the rest of my life unless I have company!"

"Haha, I know what you meant. And I'll be more than willing to join you here or any other room in this house anytime you want," he leers as he leans down to kiss her.

He gets dressed and gathers the eggs from the hens in the barn. While he is preparing the eggs, Liliya goes out and milks the dairy cows so they'll have something to drink. When she returns, he is dishing out the eggs.

"Smells delicious Yankee," she says as she walks up behind him and wraps her arms around him.

"Better eat alot...you're gonna need lots of energy for later!" he says as he turns around in her arms so that he's facing her and bends his head to meet her lips.

After breakfast, Liliya does what she said she would do the night before and takes her wedding ring to be pawned. While she's gone, Walker writes a letter to his family back home. He knows they are probably worried so he wants them to know that he is ok. He also wants to tell them that he will not be coming home. He can't. But he needs them to send some of his things to him, along with all the money that he had in the bank. He gives them the address where to send his stuff and tells them that he's happy. That he's in love. That he'll be fine and keep in touch, and let's them know that someday, he'll be sending them pictures of his new wife and eventually, their children.

He goes into town and drops his letter off at the post office. He walks around the town, looking in the windows of all the shops when something catches his eye. Then he takes out his wallet to see how many Rubles he has. He knows he should be saving his money because he and Liliya will need as much as they can to get through the winter. Maybe he can get the shop owner to sell it for less.

He attempts to communicate with the little bit of Russian that Liliya has taught him. Thankfully, the shop owner spoke English. He explain his situation…minus the part where he ran away from his army. He told him how he was an American soldier who was injured during battle and taken in by a local girl who nursed him back to health. And now they had fallen in love and he wanted to get her something special…but they didn't have much money between them. Then, in the most pathetic voice possible, he asked the shop owner,

"Will this be going on sale anytime soon?"

"Nyet. This is just a small business. There are no sales. I tell you what my friend, you were hurt serving your country by fighting alongside my countrymen. I have a son fighting in the war and my nephew died in battle a few months ago. I will make you a deal. What can you afford?"

Before going into the shop, Walker had removed half of the money he was carrying from his wallet and put it in his pocket, leaving just a few bills in his wallet.

"This is all I have," he says.

The shop owner looks disappointed, but says,

"That will do. Take it. It is yours. Good luck to you and your girl."

"Spasiba," Walker says.

He wants to rush home and give her the ring immediately, but he decides to wait. It might seem too irrational, too impulsive for her. He would wait a week. They had only been "officially" together for less than a day. He wanted to spend the next week getting to know her more, her likes and dislikes, her dreams, her goals…and he wanted to help her make those dreams come true. As soon as his family sent him the things he'd asked for, they would be well on their way.

"Where have you been?" she asks when he comes through the door.

"I went for a walk while you were gone. It was too quiet around here without you."

"Da, I know the feeling."

"Did you miss me?" he asks as he pulls her against him and moves to kiss her, but stops, just before their lips meet.

"Maybe a little," she smiles, closing the short distance between them.

After a few moments of kissing, Walker steps back and brushes her hair away from her face.

"Just a little?" he asks.

"Did you miss me?" She purrs as she wraps her arms around his waist and looks up at him.

"Yep…wanna know how much?"

"How much?"

"This much!" he says as he sweeps her up into his arms and kisses her while carrying her into the bedroom.

"And then he rocked her world…again."

"SHUT UP WHEELER!"

"What? He did…you were there, right? Or didn't that happen in your dream?"

She didn't say anything.

"Do we have a difference in our dreams? Wow, that's weird…after all this time of them being identical, now all of a sudden, they're different…"

"IT HAPPENED! Ok? But...Bozhe moy, do you have to be so immature and insensitive about it?"

"Insensitive?" He asks, confused at what she meant.

"You are not taking it seriously. What they are going through…what is about to happen to them. You are making a joke out of it, when it is sad," she says.

"What do you mean, sad? I woke up right after their latest…encounter. I even…nevermind."

"What?"

"Ok, don't get mad at me…but I have a confession to make," Wheeler says.

"What is it?"

"When I woke up from my dream, I guess I had moved in my sleep and rolled over…"

"Da?"

"Well, you know how close we were all sleeping given the limited space we had in the tent?"

"Da."

"I had my arm around you. I was holding you pretty tightly and we were…spooning…I had my nose buried in your hair, you smell good by the way…"

"Umm, thanks."

"…you were holding my hand in yours… And while I was sorry that I woke up, not knowing what happened next to Walker and Liliya and wanting to see her reaction to his gift, I figured they lived happily ever after. I was just happy that I could hold you for a while…just to see what it would be like to be as happy as Walker and Liliya were...so I stayed like that and held you for a while. Plus I didn't want to wake you when I moved…and I really didn't want to move."

"But you did. You left…"

"Yeah, to get something to eat. I figured my growling stomach would be loud enough to wake you anyways, so I might as well risk waking you up when I pulled my arm from around your waist and my hand out of your grasp.

"And that must've been when…"

"When what? What happened next Babe?"

"When I sensed that I was alone," she whispered thoughtfully. "When you left me…He...Walker…"

To Be Continued...