A/N: Thank you for those that are still here and commenting. I had a few minutes and thought I'd write a bit of a fluff chapter. I don't know if it's necessarily needed for the story line, but… here it is. Thanks again!

Chapter Seventeen:

One Month Earlier

Rhett Butler sat a card table, looking at the five red cards in his hand. His face gave away nothing. He'd spent his fair share of time around a card table, and he knew when a win was imminent. He'd made a fair bit of money at the tables, and he'd lost a fair bit too. Poker, was mostly luck, if one didn't cheat. The other bit was strategy that was developed and honed with practice. That night, he was on a win streak. He'd already taken in more than he'd expected, and the chips on the table were about to be his as well.

Rhett looked at the man across from him, he could see on his face that he thought he was going to win. The man slid a few more chips toward the center of the table and laid down his cards. "Full House. Queens over tens."

The man moved to sweep the winnings toward him, but Rhett cleared his throat. "Sorry, son. Royal Flush."

As soon as, if not slightly quicker than the smile had spread across his face, the man's face fell and turned white. "Impossible."

"As you can see, it's actually quite possible. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take my winnings and go enjoy my time elsewhere."

Rhett started to stand, but the man's hand reached out and stopped him. "Wait. One more hand. Double or nothing."

There was a look in the man's eyes that Rhett knew well; it was desperation. Clearly the man had overspent his means, certain of his win. Rhett paused for a moment, considering his options. Luck and strategy had yet to fail him that night, but all good things came to an end at some point. Further, he knew that if he won he might significantly reduce his opponent's way of life. They were not gambling with a small sum, the multiple rounds and opponents had left them both with deep wallets, and it seemed that the other man had reached the bottom.

"Sir, I think it would be the gentlemanly thing to do to at least give me a chance to win my money back."

The corner of Rhett's mouth twitched up beneath his mustache, and he replied. "Well, no one has ever accused me of not being a gentleman."

Rhett won, again, as he knew he would. This time, the man didn't beg for a rematch. He simply begged. "This is all I have. If you take it, I'll lose everything."

On another day, Rhett might have felt some pity on him. Today wasn't that day. He sat in a small club, just outside a city he'd never been to until recently. So far, he wasn't impressed. Although, if he were honest with himself, he had to admit that he was letting the city be tinted by his current emotions. Rhett wasn't sure what he was expecting. He'd accepted that their marriage was over before Scarlett had sent the divorce papers. When he'd found out she'd moved, it affected him more than he'd wanted.

It had been almost a year and a half when Rhett's curiosity couldn't hold out any longer. There'd been whispers here and there about where Scarlett might have moved. Some said she was in Ireland and England, others even suggested Texas. When, after a lot of questions and asking the right people, Rhett found out she was in Georgia still, he knew he had to see her. He himself had been travelling for the better part of the time, and had seen parts of America he hadn't ever considered relevant before.

Finally, he came to Newnan, and sat about asking around, discreetly of course, for a Mrs. Butler. It was less of a shock, and more of an amusement when he discovered that Scarlett no longer used his name, but instead reverted back to the one given to her long before her three husbands sought to change it. Rhett still hadn't seen her by the time he's been in Newnan for a week. However, he stopped trying to conceal his identity and moved freely around town. He visited several shops, ate dinner at local restaurants, and generally tried to enjoy himself. He didn't want to force a meeting with Scarlett, he rather hoped that fate would throw them together as it oft seemed to.

"A man's first lesson in cards should be never to play with more than he can stand to lose. I'm sorry to be the one to teach you it, but better me, here when you actually have something to take, then when you fall short at a table one night and someone takes it out of your hide behind a saloon and leaves you dead." It was a graphic image, but one he thought needed conveying, he'd played in far seedier places than this, and had seen what money and desperation could do to a man. He stood, taking the chips as well as a deed that the man had thrown into the pot as well. He cashed out the chips without a backward glance, and left the small gambling den.

There was nothing holding him in Newnan anymore, at least not after what he'd seen today. On one of his walks around the town he'd happened into a small cafe, it held only a dozen or so tables, most of which were ladies eating tiny sandwiches and drinking tea. He stopped short of entering when he recognized the profile of a small framed woman sitting down. She sat across from another gentleman, immersed in conversation. Rhett saw her smile and caught the glint of her eye as they twinkled at the man in front of her. He knew that look well himself, she was flirting. He turned on his heel, making only one final stop, canceling an order of a bonnet he'd put in when he first got to town.