Just a reminder: Jacob Taylor and William Kinney are two ghosts, distant relatives of Justin and Brian, and Evan and Kaila are two deities, also called entities.
Kaila was curious. In fact, curiosity was the quality that best defined her personality. Thus, she had wondered who the people causing so much trouble of late were, these people who inspired such immense concern and devotion. Evan was planning to sacrifice himself for Jacob Taylor, the soul of a mere mortal, who had forfeited his chance at reincarnation to spend more time with William Kinney, who had been his lover on Earth. Jacob had also helped Justin Taylor and Brian Kinney, distant relatives of him and his lover, mend their relationship, even though he suspected that such audacity would earn him a terrible punishment. William would have done the same had Kaila herself not stopped him. So she spent time observing both the ghosts and the mortals.
Kaila was shocked to discover just how fascinating these Kinneys and Taylors were, how easily one could be drawn into their endeavors, hopes, dreams, and relationships. In just 24 hours, she had become invested in their futures.
Kaila was particularly drawn to Justin. He reminded her of a man she'd known as a mortal, her best friend, James. She remembered him well, although that had been nearly 2000 years ago and she had not thought of him since she died. At the time of her ascension (to the status of deity), she had not known that she could track mortals through their various incarnations, so she had not kept an eye on James.
However, she now knew she had this ability, so she traced Justin's previous lives. When she did so, she made a startling discovery: Justin was James's fifth incarnation. If she had been interested in Justin before, she was doubly so now.
Then, she traced Brian's past lives back to James's lifetime and learned that, at that time, Brian was Aidan Kinney, James's lover. Intrigued, she matched up all their incarnations. Brian and Justin had been lovers in every life since humans (homo sapiens) walked the earth. Every 400 years, they somehow made their way back to one another. And every time, their relationship ended in sorrow. No matter how close they became, how deeply they loved one another, one of the two always refused to surrender completely to the other. Pride and fear were generally the culprits.
Kaila sighed. If Brian and Justin were to have a happy ending in this lifetime, they would need to break a 200,000-year-old pattern. How could they achieve what they had failed to attain in each of their 499 previous incarnations? It was unlikely that they would succeed without help.
Jacob Taylor could not possibly have seen this larger pattern, but he had undoubtedly seen many other Taylor-Kinney pairings fail in the 200 years he'd been a ghost. That explained his desperate act. He had done well, but, after only 24 hours of observation, Kaila noted that Brian and Justin were already falling back into their old pattern. Clearly, more drastic measures were needed, measures that were not currently within Jacob's power.
Kaila smiled. She had desperately wished that James would find happiness. She couldn't help him 2000 years ago, but she could help him now. In the years since her ascension, she had discovered many hidden powers, so she had quite a few options. Which should she choose? She initially thought of switching their bodies for a time. But eventually, she decided that that was too strange.
After a great deal of contemplation, she finally settled on what she thought was the perfect solution. She would grant them access to their lovers' unspoken thoughts and unexpressed feelings. That is, whenever they engaged in an activity to which their lover would have an emotional reaction were he present, they would experience not only their own thoughts and feelings but also those of their lover. These would manifest themselves in the form of a second inner voice and a newfound sense of empathy. Kaila was so excited by the prospect that she actually giggled.