INBETWEEN written by SHELAYNE

Omar paused. "Several... I guess you would call them 'incarnations' ago, I inhabited the body of archaeologist and went back." He swallowed. "It is one of the most painful feelings in the world to excavate the house you once lived in, to walk again down the destroyed streets of your youth. We found their bodies as well. Two thousand years later, he.....I, still held her close." A pause. "And I finally got to read that damn graffiti."

They had finished eating long before he finished his story. Libby sat in silence thinking of the last day of Pompeii and the two mortals who hadn't survived the disaster. She was brought out of her reverie as the waiter came back one ore time to inquire into their needs. Omar thanked him and asked for the bill. He paid it and escorted Libby out of the café and to his car. They drove in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Soon Libby realized they were heading towards his apartment. She looked at him and he met her with a level gaze. With one hand he grabbed hers and gave it a gentle squeeze, assuring her that everything was all right. They arrived at his apartment and he walked around to open the car door for her. She got out, smiled up at him and they walked into his apartment. As they walked through the door, Libby suddenly got nervous. She knew what was going to happen next. The look in his eyes had made it very clear. And she wanted it too, ever since they first met. So why was she nervous?

Omar locked the door behind them and then went over to the phone. He unplugged it from the wall and turned to Libby. "No more distractions." She smiled again as he came over to her and rested his hands on her shoulders. "Make yourself at home. I'll be right back." He kissed her forehead and walked out of the living room. Her eyes wandered around the room and came to rest on the stereo unit. She walked over to it, turned it on and pressed the cd button. The music came on, Enigma 1990 A.D., Libby thought to herself and then she let her mind wander. She knew she shouldn't be here. She truly believed he was an immortal soul and she was afraid to be this much in love with him. He would have to leave this body eventually and where would that leave her? The actor would want his own life back and it wouldn't include her. Her eyes filled with tears at the thought of the eventual heartache she would have to endure.

Omar came back into the living room with a blanket over his arm to find Libby's back to him. He had removed his jacket, shoes and socks and his feet were silent as he walked up to her. He dropped the blanket on the floor, enfolded her in his arms and held her until he heard her sniff. He turned her to him and found tears running down her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I don't know, you, me, everything" Libby said. She moved away from him and continued. "I guess I'm just.... frightened."

"About what?"

"That ....that 'm falling so in love with you."

"But why should that frighten you?"

"Because you won't be here forever. I know I have you until the movie is done but what then? You said it yourself, that you only spend so much time in the host body before you have to leave it."

Omar walked up to her and took her face in his hands. "I want you to listen to me. Last night I thought long and hard about us. I'm in love with you too, and it's not just in the physical sense. I love your personality, your mind, your inner-self and I can't wait to spend each day with you, learning your most deepest secrets as I share mine with you. That's why I've decided to take over this host body and be with you for a lifetime. Libby, will you marry me?"

Libby was shocked and a thousand thoughts erupted in her mind. "But you can't do that. It's going against what the immortals believe and their rules. It's not fair to the human you're going to take over."

"I don't care. I'm done with immortality. I have found in you the one I want to be with, consequences be damned. And I won't take no for an answer. Libby, I had a soul-mate once and lost her to fate. I never thought I'd find another. But I have in you and I refuse to lose you to anything."

He kissed her then, a desperate kiss, and held her tight for fear she might slip away. She yielded to him, not knowing if he spoke truth, only wanting this moment to lock away in her memory for all time. He kissed her tears away as his mouth moved to her eyelids, gently raining down feather-light kisses. He pulled back from her as she opened her eyes and he saw in them her complete surrender. His mouth claimed hers and Libby's last coherent thought was for this moment to never end. Their tongues met hungrily, and they reveled in the feel and taste of each other. Libby's hands came up and dug into his raven locks as his hands moved down her back and began untucking her shirt from her jeans. Once done, his fingers slid up under her shirt as his mouth moved to her neck. The feel of his beard on her neck made her shiver in anticipation as their passion mounted. She could feel his impatience as he pulled her shirt up and over her head, flinging it out of reach. She followed his lead and soon his shirt joined hers as her hands ran over his chest, playing with his nipples, exciting them to hardened peaks. One hand grabbed the back of her hair as he moaned her name over and over. His other hand slid down her back as he undid her bra and removed it from her body. Her nipples were already hard and her breasts firm as his mouth moved down to them. She ran her hands across his broad shoulders and back as his mouth took in first one breast, then the other. He nipped and sucked them gently at first, then more urgently as she arched her back until he sensed that moment of ecstasy-pain within her. He brought his lips back to her ear. "Just a moment" he whispered and he grabbed the blanket and spread it out on the floor. He came back to her and lowered her onto the blanket. He straddled her legs on his knees as she lay on the floor, touching her face with his hands, then continuing to her neck and shoulders, moving down across her breasts to the top of her jeans. He undid the button and slowly slid the zipper down. He gave her a mischievous grin as he moved away from her jeans and concentrated on removing her shoes and socks. Having removed those, it was a matter of seconds as he pulled off her jeans and underwear together, leaving her completely naked on the floor. She watched him as his eyes slowly traveled over her body, devouring every inch of her.

"Libby, you are so beautiful" he said. She smiled in reply and watched him as stood up and undid his jeans, pulling them down slowly to let her eyes take in every inch of him. As he stood totally naked before her, she let her eyes roam over his broad shoulders, his firm chest and on down to his belly. Her breathing increased as her eyes took in the size of his manhood standing erect. She lifted her hand up to him and he took it in his own as he lay down on top of her.

Then his mouth met hers in a wild frenzy and she met him kiss for kiss. His hands roamed over her body touching her everywhere he could. When his knee gently parted her thighs to give his hand access to the soft hair of her pubis, Libby shuddered with the physical sensations building within her. He massaged her clitoris expertly with his fingers, making her writhe underneath him as he started to bring her to the point of climax.

He heard her shortness of breath and laughed softly. "Wait for me, my love" he whispered. His hands gripped her hips as his other knee spread her thighs apart even further. She grabbed his hair and brought his face up to hers. They looked into each other's eyes, knowing that this was the moment that their bodies and souls had longed for, this joining from two to one. Then his mouth came down on hers, muffling her cries of pleasure as he slid himself into her and began rocking against her hips. Slowly at first, then faster, as the pulsating rhythm of the music became their leader that they gladly followed. Her hands clawed his back as he pumped faster and harder, her hips rising off the floor to meet each thrust. Libby closed her eyes in ecstasy, feeling his hard length plunging deep inside her, making her pant as she gasped for breath, and finding that her orgasm was very near. Her muscles strained with the effort of holding back, knowing she couldn't wait for him much longer. Then when she thought she could hold back no longer, she heard his voice in her ear as he roughly whispered "Now Libby, let go and fly with me" and she let it come. With his hands embedded deep in her hair, his growls of pleasure mingled with hers cries as their orgasm took over and they joined as one. She was mindless, feeling nothing and everything at the same time, knowing only him in this moment. Omar's eyes were still closed as he finished his ejaculation into her, breathing in the scent of her warm body beneath him. After a moment she started to move but his arms became steel bands as he held her still. "Don't move" he breathed raggedly. She lay perfectly still waiting for him to come back to her in the real world. He finished, a smile playing about his lips and he opened his eyes. That is when he saw it. Her shield had completely shattered around her aura and he found himself looking at a deep azure fading into a light sky-blue, surrounded by jagged spears of lightening. His world shattered and he knew her for who and what she was. It was Aliah and she was an immortal soul.

The shock of it sent him scrambling off of her, leaving her questioning.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He breathed in deep gulps of air as if he couldn't get enough and his voice was horse as he spoke. "Aliah? Is it really you?"

Her face paled as she answered. "Yes, it's me."

She made a move towards him but he backed further away from her. "You're a....an immortal, like me" he rasped.

"Don't look at me like you don't know me Will. It's me, Aliah.' She moved towards him.

"Stay away from me."

"But Will, please let me explain..."

"And don't call me Will!" he barked at her. He stood up and found his jeans. "Will doesn't exist anymore. I'm Omar now" he said as he angrily pulled his jeans on. Libby pulled the blanket around her as she searched his face with her eyes.

"Omar, I would like a chance to explain what happened. Please."

"There's nothing you can say that I want to hear. Where's my shirt?" he said as he threw the sofa pillows on the floor, searching for it. Libby looked behind her and found it lying next to her. She picked it up and held it towards him. "Here" she said.

Omar walked over to her, bent down and tried to rip it from her hands. But Libby held on to the other end, refusing to let him have it.

"Aliah, let go of my shirt!"

"Not until you listen to me. And you should keep calling me Libby. Aliah's dead."

Omar's anger increased as they played tug of war with his shirt. "Aliah...Libby, let go!" he yelled and gave a might heave. She let go and Omar tumbled backwards onto the floor. She quickly scrambled on top of him, blanket and all as he tried to right himself. They silently wrestled for a moment until Omar was hopelessly entangled in the blanket with Libby sitting on his chest. They both stopped for a moment, breathing heavily as they glared at each other. Finally he spoke.

"Aliah, I've never hit a woman before but I'm warning you, you've pushed me to my limit."

"I'll let you go but not until you've given me a chance to clear all of this blame you've laid on me." Omar said nothing but waited for her to continue.

"I didn't betray you that night."

Omar looked at her in disbelief. "Are you trying to say that everything Jasper told me was a lie?"

"Not all of it. He was partly correct. He did catch me leaving that night to go to you. We had a terrible argument about it and then he physically took me to Breck's house and they both locked me in the cellar. I couldn't get out. I kicked and screamed all night long but Breck just left me there, for three days, without food or water. The night of the third day he finally let me out after making me promise I wouldn't try to run away. He took me in the kitchen and had the cook feed me while he went out. But as soon as I was sure he was gone, I ran out of the house and into the street, intending to go to your farm even if I had to run all the way there on foot. Even though I was weak from hunger, my only thought was of you. And that's why I didn't see the carriage that had gone out of control. As I ran blindly into the street, it came careening around the corner and ran me down. I was so bewildered that I jumped into the first body available, and it was the driver of the carriage. But I didn't try to take over his body just then. I was in too much of a shock. I watched through his eyes as he got out of the carriage and ran to Aliah's body but by then she was dead." She got off of Omar and let him sit up. "Of course, no one cared very much that she died. She was only a half-breed who had never been accepted by either side of her family. That's what drew me to her in the first place. I was trying to help both sides accept her." Omar watched her face as Aliah or Libby, whichever one, he thought, gazed past him as the recollection of it all came back to her. "I stayed in the carriage driver's body because I could move about the town more freely than if I had jumped into the body of a woman. I eventually made it out to your farm but you weren't there. I wandered all over town inquiring about you but no one seemed to know where you were. As a last resort, I walked into a saloon and I overheard some men talking about Aliah and Jasper so I bought them a round of drinks and asked if I could join them. They let me and then proceeded to talk about some poor farmer that they had to 'deal with'. I asked what they meant by that and they were drunk enough that they told me the entire story, of how they had pushed you in front of a moving train."

Libby stopped as Omar had turned from her, reliving everything as she spoke. "You don't know the pain and anguish I went through. I almost gave up being an immortal. I had lost you and I felt like there was nothing left for me. I don't know why but one day I jumped into the body of a girl-child. I stayed in that body a long time, slowly healing my soul from the pain of losing you." Her voice went down to a whisper. "I never knew that "Will" was an immortal until last night, when you told me who your one true love was."

Omar kept his back to her as he finally spoke, his voice distant. "Aliah is...dead. But then again, she would be. It was a hundred and fifty years ago."

"But I'm still here, the part you fell in love with. Like you, I have a new name, but my soul is the same."

Why didn't you tell me last night then, who you were?"

"I tried to, several times, but seeing the hate in your eyes for Aliah made me afraid. I couldn't bear the thought of you hating me. I love you too much. Can you...can you ever forgive me?" she asked.

Omar closed his eyes. She hadn't betrayed him after all. A sea of emotions washed over him as everything fell into place. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. He turned back towards her and looked at her. She sat crouched on the floor, waiting for him to speak. The blanket she was holding around her had slid off her shoulders, leaving them bare and he noticed red marks there and on her neck, made by him during their passionate love-making. Her tousled hair framed her beautiful, tear-streaked face, her eyes begging him to believe her and he longed to hold her in his arms and caress her fears away. But first thing's first. He crawled over to her and gently held her face in his hands.

"Libby, I'm the one who must ask for forgiveness."

"You? Why?"

"Because I'm the betrayer, not you. The first test of our love and I'm the one who blew it. I should have come back to look for you, to find out what happened, to find the truth. Instead, I got caught up in the life of the host body I had jumped into. I am so sorry for abandoning you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Libby's eyes filled with tears. "Just do one thing for me?" she asked.

"Anything."

"Hold me?"

"Oh, my dearest love" and Omar held her close, kissing her hair and face, trying to make all the pain he caused her go away. She cried into his neck, all the strain of the past twenty-four hours finally letting loose. He held her until she finished, murmuring his eternal love for her in her ears. She finally lifted her head to look at him, caressing his face with her hands. "So" she whispered "What happens now?"

He looked deep into her eyes, reaching to the very depths of her immortal soul to revel in the love he found there. "I don't know about the future, but right now I want a complete joining with you, immortal soul to immortal soul. Let me love you." Her eyes shone with a happy light as he brought his mouth down on hers once again and, pushing her backwards onto the floor, he disentangled the blanket from her naked body. As the night wore on, they made love again and again, glorying in the complete unity that only two immortal souls could achieve. But the human body can only take so much before physical exhaustion sets in and eventually Omar picked Libby up and carried her to bed, making sure she was tucked in before he climbed in next to her. Wrapping an arm and a leg about her and secure in the knowledge of their love, Omar fell into a deep sleep.

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