Chapter 5

*author's note* Small oops folks.. got ahead of myself. So ok you caught a glimpse of a few chapters ahead.. Lets fix that shall we??*

5.

She leaned against the kitchen counter, absent-mindedly stirring a cup of hot tea as she thought over the night before. He'd shown up again, out of nowhere, and right in the middle of a dream. In some ways she wasn't even sure he was real. Maybe she was finally losing her mind. It would fit, conjuring up a half dream lover that wasn't.

Her gaze turned towards the ocean, a brief smile flitting on her lips. The dreams were ramping up in intensity.The one from the night before was so graphic she'd woken in a hard sweat. Her as an Indian in love with a calvary soldier? Maybe she should change carreers, she could make a mint writing fiction.

~~

Richie slowly walked to the room he knew now was Bailey's. After the restless night he'd spent dreaming of the old west he was even more perplexed than usual. He fingered the black Stetson atop his head as he leaned casually against the door frame and knocked, then crossed his arms waiting for her to answer.

Her head jerked towards the knocking as a brow arched. Who the hell would be here? No one knew where she'd gone for vacation. Settling the cup on the counter she pulled her robe tight around her and walked towards the door.

She opened the door, her eyes going wide with shock. Pervy Dream guy was back? She took a step back as she took him in, her gaze finally resting on the oh so black and silver trimmed Stetson on his head. "Oh God."

She continued to back up, unable to tear her gaze from the hat. "How? why? Why'd you wear it?"

He merely shrugged " Guess the dream made me wear it." He leaned away from the wall. "Can I come in?"

She nodded, still unable to tear her gaze from the hat, "The dream made you do it? That's a new one."

Taking a deep breath she tore her gaze from the hat and nodded to the couch. "Have a seat."

"Thanks." He entered the room and sat nervously where she motioned. "Look Bailey, this is gonna sound crazy but, have you ever had like... ya know some really wierd shit happen to you.. like dream it then.. it happens?"

She stilled mid step, her eyes brushing over him slowly. He looked nervous, like a cat on a hot tin roof with no way to jump, yet as she watched him she saw beyond that a bone deep weariness.

It was impossible that he would ask that, he was a stranger to her, how would he know? Shaking her head, "I think that needs something to drink. Coffee or Tea?"

"Um.. coffee, black please." The urge to ask for something stronger, more alcoholic rose only to be pushed away as he shifted; leaning back and trying to relax as he spoke "See that first night on the pier... it... well .. it was almost like.. what I'd dreamed not 15 minutes before"

She quickly set the coffee to brewing before turning to watch him. "Yeah well that was a first for me. Usually I dream but that's the first time ..."

She halted before admitting to her lunacy. What if he thought she was crazy?

"The first time what?" He looked up and caught her gaze, pleading silently for her to not think he was insane

She reached for a couple of cups, filling both before turning back to him. "Cream or sugar?"

He shook his head, "blacks fine."

She nodded and lifted the cups before moving back towards him and holding one out. "You'll think I'm totally crazy, you know?"

"I'm beginning to think I am."

She sighed, then sank into the chair facing him. "All my life I've had these dreams, they vary, different times, places, like odd memories that aren't. And in each of those dreams, there's always this guy, but I never could see his face, he always seems to vanish just before I get close. "

She looked up, her voice going soft, "A few days ago I woke up in a cold sweat, there he was again, mist the whole nine yards, same old dream. But when they come I can't get back to sleep so I took a walk and well low and behold if he didn't walk up, right out of the mist."

"The bright light, the thunder? The boom, the fog? I saw it too," he said quietly. He felt oddly disconnected right then. He didn't believe in dream foresight or psychic abilities, but he'd had a precognitive dream about her, he just didn't get why.

She couldn't talk, he'd seen the same thing? It wasn't possible. Forseeing the future was for quacks. She shivered a moment, and forced her throat to work. "Yeah, and that fog can eat you alive if you let it."

She took a deep breath, knowing the next questions would either get a laugh, or possibly put the nails in the coffin of her disbelief. "You have a hat, I dream about a hat like that and a man with dark skin, dark eyes, in a uniform."

Richie's eyes widened. "There was a small pool, like a mini lake, it smelled so different, so... clean." He shook his head, "But there was a war going on?"

Her voice went dry as she snorted, "More like wholesale slaughter, but yeah."

"I don't understand any of this" he looked up at her. "Why would we dream the same... stupid shit? Did you watch a western last night? I know I didn't"

She shook her head, "I've been dreaming these things for years, and no I watched no TV.." She pointed to the stetson. "He was wearing that hat."

"Yeah I know." He reached up and took his hat off his head, running his fingers over it softly " I've had it forever. As long as I can remember I've just had a thing for em, they just feel, like me..."

She took a sip of her luke warm coffee and sighed, "thing is..ever since that night on the pier, the man in the dreams has a very clear face. I guess its fanciful thinking, but then again, it doesn't seem wrong either."

"The Indian had blue eyes" He said randomly

She placed her cup on the table and laughed. "The cowboy had insanely long fingers."

He frowned and looked at his hands. "This is crazy ya know. I feel like I should call a.. a priest or .. or a psychic for a damn reading or cleansing or... whatever it is they do"

She blinked, then started to laugh. "Call an exorcist?"

"I dunno" he gave a half laugh, half snort " I think I'm possessed by the spirit of a crazed old west army dude or somethin'!"

She nibbled on her lower lip a moment,her eyes moving up to catch his gaze. "Ever dreamed of sailing on a ship and dying??"

"Sailing on a ship..." He furrowed his brow "Well, when I was a kid I..." He shook his head "This is in-fucking-sane you know that?" He sipped his coffee before continuing, "When I was a kid I used to dream I was a pirate." He felt his face flush. He felt ridiculous telling this near stranger about his silly childhood nightmares. "I'm not sure if I died but, I know I was always really scared."

She leaned forward as another thing settled inside,"Dank dark and wet, forever sea sick, and finally pushed off onto an island because they couldn't get the reward they wanted. I hate hurricane season cuz of that, I dream about that island and the stupid monsoon that swamped it."

"I don't remember any island but there was always that damn fog, and the storm."

She leaned back, her head hitting the back of the chair as weariness overrode her need to learn."I'd swear it was you the more I talk to you, but its not possible, is it?"

"I wouldn't think so," he answered " I mean maybe it's as simple as I saw you on the beach when I first got here." He offered a lame excuse, knowing it had been going on far longer but trying to find a way to make them both feel more comfortable.

Right. It had to be that.. that's all it was, coincidence. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean its like your inside my head, and that's just not possible. You couldn't have dreamed of a skinny little kid cussing a guitar or even a civil war soldier taking refuge in a plantation. So it IS all different."

"Yeah ... yeah," he agreed. "Look, I was thinking, maybe, maybe you'd have dinner with me tonight?" He knew he was taking a chance on rejection again, but for some reason he felt compelled to get to know more about this woman.

She wanted to know more about this man whose dreams mimicked hers. There was just something bout him that led her to feel confident. "Yeah that would be nice."

"Yeah I think it would. Your a very interesting person so far Bailey." He stood and grabbed his hat sticking it back on his head before reaching for her hand.

She lifted her hand, placing it in his, and felt the first flash of awareness hit her brain like a runaway train. The heat coming off of him was extraordinary and had her forgetting she was clothed in a robe. Standing, she cleared her throat and tried to make sense of the thoughts that kept rambling in her mind."So what time?"

He held her hand and tenderly stroked the palm. "Round 7?"

She felt the faintest shiver race along her spine as her mouth went dry. "Ahh yeah, 7, that would be fine."

"Ok, " he smiled a bit then raised her hands to his lips "Until later darlin'," he placed a soft kiss on her palm, then showed himself to the door.

She nodded and watched him walk to the door, feeling strangely bereft at his leaving. "Til then."