…And by the same eternal token,

Who knows just how it will end?-

This drama of hard words unspoken,

This fireside farce, without a friend

Or enemy to comprehend

What augurs when two lives are broken,

And fear finds nothing left to mend…

He stares in vain for what awaits him,

And sees in Love a coin to toss;

He smiles, and her cold hush berates him

Beneath his hard half of the cross;

They wonder why it ever was;

And she, the unforgiving, hates him

More for her lack than her loss.

He feeds with pride his indecision,

And shrinks from what will not occur,

Bequeathing with infirm derision

His ashes to the days that were,

Before she made him prisoner;

And labors to retrieve the vision

That he must once have had of her…

Rhett slammed the book shut and threw it idly into the empty seat beside him. No, he wouldn't shrink from his problems any longer; he couldn't afford to. He'd always gambled in his life, never walking away from the table, no matter how high the stakes. And now he would wager the largest bid of all- his heart, in the hopes that in doing so maybe he could ease her heart as well, and perhaps return them both to a time when he was himself, and she was too.

So many tragedies, so many missed chances, so many foolish, selfish passions swirling up, up, until a magnificent climax that for a moment shook his world and then fell sky diving in a bloody, primitive pool at his feet, and then-

The train jarred suddenly, wiping away the erratic thoughts from his mind as he reached for a hand rail, the train making its transition from movement to inaction. Moments later Rhett stepped off the train and into the garishly bright sunlight, squinting slightly as he took in his surroundings.

He'd been here before- during his tempestuous youth he'd passed through the territory as many other vagabonds had, seeking sanctuary in the obscurity that the untamed land and caves provided. But he never thought he'd see the day that his own wife sought sanctuary here. Sighing, he pushed his palmetto hat to the back of his head and went to inquire about getting transportation for the rest of his journey, and to see if there was someplace he could rest for the night. The months of frustration and worry were finally coming crashing down on him, the dark circles under his eyes and the weariness of his frame showing clearly to everyone who encountered him. So after some exchange of information, he made his way to a small boarding house in the middle of Little Rock, just along the river.

The location was less than desirable, he knew from past experience that such locations often housed whichever towns underground society, the one made up of cutthroats and prostitutes. Ironic that these same locations were also the beginnings of most towns, the place where all the "respectable" folk had once lived . But he shrugged with indifference, and went to the scantly furnished room that awaited him. Even a few hours of sleep on a paper thin mattress would be welcome after the last few days of hasty preparation and non-stop travel.

* * *

Rhett swore angrily and sat up as he heard a bottle smashing against the wall in the next room. He shifted his feet to the cold wooden floor and then got up to get dressed once more.

He walked down a path between the rows of houses for a bit until he came closer to the waters edge and lit a cigarette, watching its fiery reflection in the water, watching how the moon played across the ripples and currents leaving a white veil behind that flickered like a diamond in the sun.

Sensing something approaching him, he turned quickly and cursed himself for leaving his pistol in his room. But as the smell of cheap perfume wafted up to his nose his defenses lowered.

"Hello, Lover!" Rhetts eyes slowly adjusted to the figure who stood before him, a buxom woman cheaply dressed, her face camouflaged in thick makeup. One of the many whores who lingered on the waterfront waiting for lonely sailors or chance thieves or murderers in need of companionship. He smirked and took a final drag off the cigarette before tossing it into the waves. "I'm not interested, madam."

She laughed thickly, and Rhett could smell the whiskey on her breath. "Pity! And you seemed just like the sort of man who could do with a bit of fun for an evening."

He be lying to himself if he disagreed with her, but instead he just turned and made his way back up the path and to his room. Yes, he needed female companionship, needed it badly in fact, but he wanted it from one woman alone, and it was almost as if his rebellious body sensed that no other woman could satisfy him the way she could, so it refused to cooperate with him in his attempts to prove it wrong.

Retrieving his luggage, two large suitcases, he set out on the road on foot, knowing that he'd never get back to sleep anyway as the sun began to rise in the distance, a faint pink glimmer that was just beginning to outline the horizon.

* * *

Scarlett stretched out luxuriously and yawned loudly as Pansy entered her room with her breakfast tray.

"Did ya have a good rest las night, Miss Scarlett?"

"No, actually, I didn't. For some reason, I felt incredibly restless and I spent most of the night doing more tossing and turning than I did actually sleeping."

"Is dis all you'll be needin', ma'am?"

"Yes, Pansy. I'll ring for you if I need you later."

"Yessum."

Scarlett picked at her tray for a while, then pushed it away, flopping back down on her pillow as she tried to sort out the distorted pieces of her dream from the night before, an all too familiar dream.

She was running, through a thick fog…and there was something ahead of her, something solid that she was drawn to- but no matter how hard, how long she ran, she could never catch up. It was as if that "thing" which she sought was running as well, and when she pushed herself harder, it did as well, so that they were both running at the same pace. But then something strange happened, something that had never happened in her dream before. She stopped running, and oddly enough, so did the figure that lingered in the distance. Scarlett was breathing hard, not from the running, but from fear. Now was her chance. Could she risk it? Could she make the next step, try and shorten the distance between them? No. She couldn't. Fear choked her, left her paralyzed in cold terror that she'd fall in to the dark chasm that lay between them…

Scarlett pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, trying to shut out the feelings that the remembrance of her dream had brought. But it wasn't her arms she wanted wrapped around her, she realized sadly. She wanted Rhett here, to hold her, to comfort her. Damn him anyway. It was his fault she was here, that she was once more suffering the very nightmares that she'd told him were over.

She placed her tray on the nightstand and getting up saw to getting dressed herself. No use bothering with a corset anyway, she planned on taking a long walk and it would be far too constricting. Thirty minutes later she was dressed in a cool green frock and her hair was up in a simple chignon. She glanced in the mirror briefly, thinking how foolish she was for doing so, if she didn't want to be conspicuous she ought not to care a fig about her appearance.

Scarlett lightly ran down the stairs and out of the hotel. Ugh, it was already horribly muggy outside. One thing that she quickly learned was that after 8 o'clock in the morning the weather was often more fit for the abundance of 'skeeters and not for humans. No matter though, she just wanted to take a long walk, enjoy the abundance of nature, and try and sort out what to do next.

And that was a question- what should she do next? Go to Tara? Return to Atlanta? Or perhaps travel even more? She had plenty of money to do it if she so wished. It had been easy to obtain, not a hassle the way she'd imagined it would have been, the way Rhett had talked about it.

"I'm riding you with a slack rein, my pet, but don't forget that I'm riding with curbs and spurs just the same."

Of course, she realized now that the major reason behind his poisonous remarks was because of her feelings towards Ashley, but it still didn't lessen the twinge of anger that the remark had brought as well. God, how he had changed from when she'd first met him. How much she had changed as well. She certainly wasn't the youthful spoiled southern belle anymore, her greatest worry that Mammy wouldn't allow her to wear the dress she'd picked out, or that she'd catch hell for some silly prank she had played on Suellen or one of the darkie children. But what had happened to the carefree adventurer, the dashing blockader without a care in the world? The man that didn't give a rap about the south, the man who saw the south as his greatest enemy, and had considered its collapse his way of getting even.

"What kind of fool do you think I am? Kissing the rod that chastised me is not in my line. The South and I are even now. The South threw me out to starve once. I haven't starved, and I'm making enough money out of the South's death throes to compensate me for my lost birthright."

"Kissing the rod that chastised me…" Wasn't that exactly what he'd been doing ever since Bonnie had been born? Or had he discovered that he couldn't retrieve his birthright any other way?

So deep in thought, Scarlett didn't even notice the sleeping figure laying in the field until she'd fell upon it. "God's nightgown!" she cried out in surprise as the figure began to move.

Rhett had stopped to take a short nap during his journey, figuring he'd have plenty of time to show up at her doorstep before she arose; his body was worn from exhaustion, and knowing Scarlett, that probably wouldn't be until noon or so. Thus it came as a great surprise when he awoke to the sound of her startled voice and felt feet scrambling to get off of him. He moaned slightly, his body unused to sleeping on the hard ground, and sat up, removing the wide hat that shielded his face.

Scarlett was standing in front of him, her mouth a wide "O" in shock and horror.

"You know, there are a hell ova lot better ways to wake a man up in the morning than walking all over him, Scarlett."

"You…YOU! You're not supposed to be here! How did you find me- Oh! It was Melly, wasn't it? That lying filthy Judas, I trusted her and…you! Stay away from me!" Scarlett jumped back a few steps as he stood and dusted himself off, her chest heaving in shock and indignation. How could she? And Rhett, arrogant, sarcastic-

"Don't! Don't run, Scarlett! Melly didn't tell me anything- I swear to you. It was one of her little charity projects that leaked the information to me. I shan't lie to you and say I didn't try to gain your address through Miss Melly, but she was hell bent on leaving me in utter misery it would seem."

Scarlett studied his face for a moment in deep thought. He actually looked and sounded serious. Did he really mean it? Had he missed her, did he…love her? Really love her, so much so that he'd gone through every possible means to find her? She imagined he'd probably paid the person off somehow. And the way he was looking at her, so longingly, so incredibly sad and yet…thrilled? Almost like the way a little boy looks on a present that he'd been waiting for ages to receive; waiting for so long that he could barely believe it was true, yet he do anything to be able to unwrap it and reveal the treasure that lay inside.

Scarlett inhaled sharply and looked away, unable to hold his penetrating stare any longer. "And now are you?" she asked so quietly it was barely above a whisper.

"No." He approached her slowly, with caution. Rhett reached out and tucked a loose tendril of her hair behind her ear. Damn, she was beautiful. Something about her had changed, she no longer wore that hunted animal look, she seemed calmer, more at ease, her natural softness having returned to the surface. He allowed his hand to linger on the side of her face, and slid it down to her chin, tilting it up to see her face, look into her pale green eyes, bright with tears and trepidation. His eyes were drawn to her slightly protruding red lips, but clearing his throat he thought better of the things that were running through his head at the moment.

"Scarlett…I'm…" he swallowed hard and looked deeply into her eyes, his washed clean of everything save honesty. "I'm sorry."

She pushed him away then, a hurt look crossing his face at her action. "Sorry? And I'm supposed to forgive you, just like that?"

"Scarlett, I don't want you to forgive me 'just like that.' Both of us are guilty, maybe I am more so than either of us- and I'm willing to accept that- if you'll accept me back into your life. I love you, Scarlett O'Hara, more than I've ever loved any woman, and you're the only woman I'd ever chase for over ten years. But I'm tired of running Scarlett. I want to be with you, want to take care of you, want to run with you, not away from you. I'm a coward when it comes to you, I think you know that. You're the only thing I've ever encountered that I couldn't easily escape, the only woman I've ever fallen for."

"That doesn't excuse you though, Rhett. How the hell do you think it felt when I woke up that next morning to find you gone- to find out you'd gone from me to that Watling creature? I realize that what happened that night was just the usual for you, Rhett, but the things you made me feel were so foreign to me- and I wanted you there, with me, to tell me that what happened between us was…special. But you quickly dispelled any illusions I'd had and I realized what a fool I was. So I wanted to make you hurt the way I hurt, to see how it felt to be left exposed to the world as a fake."

"Nothing happened between Belle and I, Scarlett. I know you don't believe me, but it's the truth. I spent those days in a drunken stupor, raising hell with anyone who was stupid enough to come near me- thus the fat Yankee who was called out to Belle's because of my behavior. I was shaking in my boots, terrified that I'd been wrong, that you didn't love me, that everything that transpired that night was just a nothing but a vision of my overactive imagination. Scarlett, there hasn't been a single woman since you left…me. I can't stand before you and say that I didn't try to bed other women in your absence, but it went no further than that."

She scowled at him, but decided not to comment. "Well, I for one am not going to stand out in this heat any longer. Besides, I'm starving, I didn't eat much this morning, and from the looks of things you didn't either."

"I take it then, Mrs. Butler, that you're inviting me to join you?" He gave a half smile, knowing that despite the expression she wore on her face that she believed him.

"If that's how you want to interpret it, then yes, I am." Scarlett couldn't help but feign indifference to him; she'd be damned if she let on the fact that she was overjoyed at his seemingly appearance out of nowhere.

Rhett grinned widely, bowing jauntily to her. "Lead the way madam. I'm afraid I'm at your disposal, my pet, since I don't know this particular area at all."

Scarlett grinned evilly at his words, causing Rhett to grimace slightly, wondering what devilment was running through her head. "Come on, then, I think I could eat a horse." She looked at Rhetts offered arm for a moment before sliding hers through it, resting her hand lightly on his upper arm.

Breakfast was a quiet meal, both too wrapped up in their own thoughts and feelings towards the turn of the mornings events to speak. But afterwards when they sat sipping coffee, and most of the diners had left, Rhett reached across the table and took Scarletts hand in his, squeezing it gently when she looked up at him surprised.

"I've missed you, Scarlett. I must say, I haven't seen you looking this healthy in ages. I'm glad to see you feeling well." Rhett said with sincerity coming across in his voice.

"Thank you, Rhett, though I can't say the same for you; You look like you haven't slept in ages." Scarlett bit her lower lip and looked away after speaking. Damn, he'd think she cared about him now. She mustn't give in to him, mustn't let him hurt her again.

Rhett touched her face and turn her to face him once more. "Look at me, Scarlett." She scowled at him, annoyed by his actions, causing him to chuckle. "There now! Now I know I'm not dreaming- for there's none but you that could possibly look at me with such abject hatred in their eyes."

She rolled her eyes and spoke with out thinking, "I don't hate you at all, Rhett. I guess I'm just surprised to see you here." Scarlett paused for a moment then asked the question that had been floating through her mind all that morning. "So who did you pay off for the information on my whereabouts? I'll bet it was that ninny Prissy, though I can't imagine how she would have found out, she's so scatterbrained."

Rhett frowned slightly, as though in deep thought. "No, no. Quite wrong, my pet. I'll bet you'd never guess- I'll bet say: A box of bon bons against- a kiss." He leaned forward grinning at her cunningly.

Scarlett burst out in merry laughter. "You conceited fool!" Then she spoke in a mimicking voice "They do say I kiss very well."

"Do they now?" Rhett asked swiftly as he reached for the back of her head, drawing her to him for a kiss.

"Rhe..mph." Mother of God! What was he thinking- in public, and…God, it felt good to be kissed again, kissed like he wanted her, wanted her alone…

Rhett broke the kiss gently, resting his palm against her check. "What do you say we go up to your room…"

"If you think I'm going to fall into bed with you, you're sorely mistaken!" Scarlett hissed in a whisper.

"I wasn't thinking about- that, Scarlett. I just thought you and I might want to go somewhere more private. We have a good deal we need to sort out between us. I swear to you my intentions were as pure as the driven snow." His words were full of sincerity, but his expression was one of mischief, his dark eyes dancing.

Scarlett turned several shades of red as she noticed a few of the late diners looking curiously in there direction. "Yes, perhaps you're right." Scarlett stood as soon as Rhett pulled her chair out for her, and then escorted him up to her room.

"I never thought I'd see the day Scarlett O'Hara lived in a nearly barren room." Rhett remarked as he closed the door behind himself.

"Neither did I, for that matter." She walked over to a window and gazed out silently for a moment. "You know, I didn't always used to be the way I am." Scarlett inhaled sharply as she felt Rhetts arms wrap around her from behind, laying his head against hers softly.

"I know that. But you do know that I'll never let you go through that again don't you? Even if you do continue to worship Ashley Wilkes." Rhett sighed dejectedly as he felt her stiffen in his arms. Christ, why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut?

"I'm not in love with Ashley, Rhett, nor have I ever been," she stated as she turned in his arms to face him. "That's where all of our problems started, isn't it? I've had lots of time to think Rhett, and I think it's time we started being honest with one another. We've been letting our tempers, and our jealousies overwhelm us so much that we lost track of who we were. And somewhere along the way we lost our friendship. Believe it or not, I once considered you to be my best friend. But then you became so nasty to me- because of Ashley. I knew that, you see, but I never understood it, because you always made it so blatantly clear that all you ever wanted me for was my body."

"Ah. I see you've finally begun to see through my false façade. My wanting your body was a sufficient cover up for my wanting your heart- the cowards way of obtaining it, but then I'd never been faced with a challenge like you. It was for me a cruel irony that I couldn't seduce and enrapture the one woman who'd managed to capture my affections, and the most damning paradox being that her not wanting me made me need her more." He paused and played with one of her hands for a moment. "So if Ashley doesn't have your heart does that mean you have room to let someone else in?" Rhett asked quietly.

"Perhaps." Scarlett yawned suddenly. "It's not the company, Rhett, I just didn't get much sleep last night." Oh, what to say. She wanted to feel him wrap her arms around her, tell her everything would be fine again, be able to tell him that he already had her heart. But she could always do it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow was another day.

Abruptly she found herself swept up in strong arms, arms that lowered her gently onto her bed. She felt him sit down on the bed beside her, and she opened her eyes to peer up at him. He was flipping through an old book of poems that was lying on her nightstand.

Scarlett smiled contentedly. "I'll let you rest with me if you'll read to me."

Rhett raised his brows speculatively. "You mean I'll get to sleep with my wife? Well, that's certainly not something I'll object to." He walked to the other side of the bed and sat upon the bed, laying against the backboard with Scarlett resting her head comfortably against his shoulder, and began to read.

* * *

Epilogue

This is the end of the story, and one can most truly say that they did not always live happily. It is not in their nature, nor in the nature of humans in general. Their lives, like the pages in the old book that Rhett read to her that day, were sometimes torn, sometimes soiled. But other pages remained intact, pure and clean as the day they were first printed, none of the ink smeared nor words out of place, and often enough, these pages outweighed all of the rest. All their life before and all of their misfortunes had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they are beginning Chapter One of their own story, the one they were to create together, and which no one has ever truly read: for it goes on forever, and every chapter is better than the one before.

THE END