InsaneJournal

There’d been a brief dizzy moment as she’d turned, but she attributed it to the alcohol she’d consumed. Juliet finished stripping for bed, figuring she was too tired to shower and she’d just pass out and drown if she tried it tonight.

When she went to bed, she fell asleep almost immediately … but strange dreams kept waking her up. Dreams about being on a train. About hunting down flame throwers in a world full of zombies. About being at some classy resort … with Alex. That actually wasn’t so unlike most of her dreams -- she dreamed pleasantly about Alex a lot. The thing was, they didn’t feel completely like dreams so much as memories, which was ridiculous. She was pretty sure she would have remembered if she’d been through a zombie apocalypse, or on a train like that one.

Still, after she gave up on sleep for the morning, she decided she’d go talk to Alex. Maybe he’d had some dreams, too. And hey, any excuse to talk to the doctor was great, right? She had the day off work because she knew she’d be hungover from her birthday celebrations, and … well, she thought she could suffer through it for a quick trip to the house.

After a shower and a light breakfast and some Tylenol, Juliet dressed in jeans and a loose, low-cut shirt. She put on her favorite necklace before she slid her wallet into her back pocket, snagged her keys, and headed out toward her car.

The drive to the house wasn’t long, but she’d picked a place nearby on purpose -- if they ever had to call her for a job, she didn’t want it to take half an hour for her to get there. She parked under an oak tree missing most of its leaves and she made her way inside. She waved to the people she recognized, and managed to locate Alex easily enough. Predictably, he was in his office, and she grinned as she rapped lightly on the doorframe. “Hey,” she said by way of greeting, waiting where she was for him to acknowledge her.
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Alex hadn’t told anyone about the dreams he’d been having. While he didn’t have them every night, they had been pretty consistent lately. The settings weren’t always the same, but somehow he knew they were all connected and they often featured Juliet, sometimes in very … exciting ways.

One of those dreams was currently on his mind as he’d had one the night prior -- and he knew it was Juliet’s birthday yesterday. He figured he’d give her a call tonight or tomorrow; he wasn’t sure what she’d been up to yesterday, but he assumed she’d had plans with her friends. When he heard a knock, he was pulled out of his thoughts and smiled when he saw who it was.

“Hey,” he greeted in return, standing up and moving around his desk even as he invited her in. “I was just thinking about you,” he admitted. “Happy birthday,” he added as he moved to hug her.
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“Yeah? Good things I hope,” she replied as she returned the hug. She was always tempted to make the hugs a little more intimate than she was sure he meant them, but she usually managed to mostly restrain herself. Still, she squeezed him a little tighter before she released him.

“Thanks,” she replied as she tucked her hands into her pockets, rocking slightly as she tried to think of how to break into it. It had seemed like a perfectly sane idea when she’d left her apartment -- clearly, she should’ve thought about it more before engaging.

“So,” she said as she shifted her weight. “If you have a couple minutes, or half an hour or something, maybe you could shrink me? I … had some really messed up dreams last night, and …” She shrugged. “Thought maybe you could investigate their meaning for me.” Sure, she knew he wasn’t a psychiatrist or psychologist, but he’d shrunk her enough after she’d arrived that she figured he’d give it a shot. “They involved zombies,” she added with an encouraging look, as if somehow zombies were supposed to be incentive for him to want to hear about her dreams.
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“Good things,” he assured her with a little smile. Too good, sometimes, but he wasn’t about to share that with her. Although he had been considering asking her out to coffee sometime -- even though he thought it was ridiculous, only because she was younger than him and probably not interested.

He gestured to the seat in front of his desk before he moved back around to retake his seat. He always had an open ear for ‘shrinking’ and he listened curiously as she explained. A little grin touched his lips at the mention of zombies, brows arching.

“Zombies aren’t really my area of expertise,” he began … though he’d had a zombie dream at some point, he realized. He’d been worried about Juliet going out to find something. He shook those thoughts away for the moment, “but I can give it a shot.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if she’d watched any horror movies lately, but if she’d come to speak to him about this, then it must have seriously bothered her at least a little. So he didn’t want to poke fun, even if he wouldn’t mean it maliciously.
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“Yeah? Maybe now I’m more interested in hearing about these good things you’ve been thinking about me,” she teased, though she didn’t for a moment it was imagine it was the sort of thing she hoped it was. She’d harbored the crush for years, and she knew that was all it would ever be. Even if the recent dreams felt like something that had happened and not just a fantasy.

“Not your area, huh? Maybe I’ll start with something else. Like … how I was on a train. Not willingly. It pulled me on, and you were there, but not the whole time I was. I was there before you, and … after you’d left, I was still there. “ She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head as she settled into the seat.

“I don’t know. I get … having weird dreams, but … they didn’t really feel completely like dreams. I mean, it’s impossible for them to be anything else, right? I like to think I would have remembered if I’d been on a train, looking for flamethrowers during a zombie apocalypse.” Saying it out loud, it really did sound bizarre. No way it could possibly be real.

She wasn’t planning on getting into their relationship in these dreams, because she was pretty sure that was still just her projecting her desires into her dreams.
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He could just imagine what she’d think if he told her some of the things he’d been thinking about her. A grin touched his lips, but he didn’t elaborate and he didn’t think she really expected him to. Instead, he listened curiously as she began to explain her dream. His expression changed the moment she mentioned a train.

He tried to rein it in a little, but the bit about them not feeling like dreams struck with him as well, and he furrowed his brow, weighing his response.

“In these dreams,” he began, slightly against his better judgement. Maybe he should ask different questions, try to discover if there really was a root cause, but it couldn’t just be a coincidence that they were having extremely similar dreams that didn’t exactly feel like dreams, could it? “Were you and I … together?”

The idea that he’d left her on the train was a little distressing to him, even though logically he told himself that they were just dreams.
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Juliet wasn’t sure what to make of the question. It was … weird. Had she said anything about it outloud? She was pretty sure she’d been good about keeping that sort of information to herself. “Um,” she began, hesitating. Well, they were just dreams, right? But still, admitting to Alex that she’d dreamed about being with him …

Gazing down at her hands, she cocked her head to one side in a half shrug. “Well, since … you brought it up, yeah. I dreamed I sang you a song,” she murmured, a faint smile crossing her lips. “But we …” She nodded, glancing up briefly instead of actually completing the sentence. Still, there was something sort of nice about Alex thinking about them being together, even if it was just a question about her dreams.

“Why?” she prompted with a slight grin. “You think that means something in the dream context?”
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From her reaction, he wondered if he shouldn’t have asked or if for some reason, they had only been together in his dreams … even though their dreams sounded eerily similar. Then she finally confirmed that they had, indeed, been together. While he was at first relieved, he did realize how strange and impossible the whole thing was.

Why were they having the same dreams? It was impossible. They hadn’t actually been living some other life on a train, had they?

“I’ve been having dreams too,” he admitted after a hesitation of his own, an uncertain grin touching his lips. “You sang I can dream, can’t I?,” he added, figuring it was an unbelievable statement and she would want some kind of confirmation. For some reason, his heart kicked up a notch as he watched her for a reaction to that.
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That was just … creepy. Juliet regarded him, but she hadn’t told anyone about this, and she’d only had the dreams last night. “Yeah,” she said finally. The memory of the dream wasn’t fading like most dream memories did. It was still pretty cohesive and coherent, which only added to the idea it was an actual memory and not just a dream.

But it was impossible.

“This isn’t … possible, is it? That we’re … having dreams like this, dreams that feel kind of real, that … are the same.” Though she was a little concerned about the possibility or impossibility of it all, there was a very large part of her that was far more interested in what would come of it. Did he like the idea of them being together? Would he want to give it a shot here and now, or just leave it as something they apparently shared dreams about?

Juliet shivered briefly, and it had nothing to do with the temperature.
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He again found himself unsure as to whether he was relieved or disturbed that she agreed and was having the same dreams. He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders even as he replied, “I don’t see how it’s possible.”

He supposed … there could be other realities. The universe was pretty incredible and there were tons of things even the smartest people on Earth couldn’t really comprehend. Maybe in a hundred years, or a thousand, secrets had been discovered that allowed trains to … travel through time and other worlds and pull people into them without them realizing it.

“I don’t really know how else to explain it, though,” he admitted, his brow furrowing slightly. And if it was all true... what did that mean for him and Juliet? He’d … liked what they’d had, when he dreamed it.
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Juliet nodded slightly. So, this was weird. She and Alex were having the same dreams and apparently he was dreaming about being with her, too. Which was … nice, and she couldn’t help but consider for a minute or so if there was a way to make their dreams reality without dropping some cheesy lines about how dreams really do come true.

“Do you think there’s any way to … investigate it? Like … I don’t know. Go to a dream therapist or someone who can detect if you’re living some alternate life at night?” She did smirk a little at the last suggestion, facetious as it was. It was on the tip of her tongue to suggest they try having a kiss to see how it felt, but she wasn’t quite that brave.

She really was stumped on how else it could be happening. Similar dreams she could get behind as just coincidence, but with him knowing the details like that? Impossible. There was no way. But he did, so what did that say?
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Alex grinned, lifting a hand to scratch behind his ear thoughtfully. “I’m not sure. Somehow I bet a dream therapist here wouldn’t have any idea what to make of us having the same dreams.” Maybe he was just being overly skeptical about … dream therapists, though.

“Maybe we should go to dinner and talk about it. Or go to dinner and talk about things completely unrelated,” he suggested, arching his brows as he regarded her from behind his desk. He … didn’t see how going to dinner would actually solve anything about their dream predicament, but he wasn’t sure there was a solution to that.

It may just be something they never figured out.

But … if the dreams were true, then maybe the feelings she had for him in the ‘dreams’ were real as well. The idea of exploring that was nice.
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A soft laugh crossed her lips at his suggestion. “Darn. I was hoping we could skip right to the making out on your couch part,” she teased him. Mostly teased. Suggested seriously but in a teasing tone so he could play it off if he wasn’t interested. But she thought she might have overstepped a little, that the blush flooding her cheeks might have been just a little telling. Funny thing about words -- they couldn’t be unsaid.

Still, she recalled well enough how it had felt in the dreams. Memories? Whatever she’d had last night. “But I guess I can manage a dinner first,” she added, a hand lifting to rub at her heated cheeks before she grinned and shook her head slightly.

As her thoughts circled back to his earlier statement, she shook her head. “So do we … tell anyone about this? I mean, at all?” She paused, recalling that Beth had made a brief appearance in these dream-memories … and she guessed if her friend ever brought up having dreams, Juliet would mention it then. “Or is it … just something between us?”
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Alex laughed quietly, surprised at her teasing suggestion … but not opposed to it, exactly. It felt like they had some romantic history between them already -- he just wasn’t sure it was real. If they both knew about it, did it matter? He did feel a doubt or two relating to how much younger than him she was, what role he’d played in her life early on. If they’d moved past that on the train, though...

And he wasn’t sure he should be thinking about these dreams as if they’d really happened, even if they both felt that way.

He shook his head lightly at himself, a little grin touching his lips. “I don’t think it would be that difficult to convince me to give your way a shot,” he half teased back.

“I … right now, let’s say just between us. Or play it by ear, I guess?” Because if a situation came up where she wanted to tell someone and she thought it felt right, he didn’t want her to hold back just for him.
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She laughed again, quietly, her head slightly ducked. “Yeah? That’s probably a dangerous thing to put on the table,” she playfully warned him. “Because it wouldn’t take too awful much for me to actually get up, close and lock the door, and head over to your couch,” she informed him with an edge of seriousness in her voice.

Still, she nodded to his comment. She’d just use her judgement, and not run around blurting it out. “So hey,” she said. “If we get caught making out on your couch, are we going to get in trouble?” She was half-teasing with that, really. She was an adult, she no longer actually lived here, and while he had been her doctor (and occasionally still was), she was perfectly comfortable violating their professional relationship for what she’d had in her dreams.

And while she reasoned they could be bantering still, Juliet eased out of her chair to wander toward the door. She swung it closed and popped the lock before she turned to put her back to the door, gazing across the room toward Alex with a little smile on her lips.
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He watched her stand up and move to lock the door, and while there was a part of him that worried they were both somehow going crazy, right now he didn’t exactly care. He wanted this -- he’d wanted this since he started having the dreams -- and it felt right.

While she locked the door, he moved around the desk and crossed the room, closing the distance between them. “I guess we’ll find out,” he murmured playfully, placing a hand on the door.

He gazed down at her for a moment, his eyes searching hers, before he leaned down to press his lips against hers.
_________

It was funny how she didn’t think he’d actually go through with it. Even after watching him walk over, closer to her, she still sort of expected him to … not do anything. So her eyes were open, maybe a little wide, as he searched them. She wondered what he saw, but there couldn’t have been anything like objection there. Not if he was kissing her.

It was funny, too, how it felt simultaneously new and familiar. Like her body remembered this, like her lips knew the feel of his, even if she didn’t. So she closed her eyes and ran her hands up his chest and over his shoulders as she pressed closer to him, returning the kiss. There was a hesitance at first, but that faded quickly enough as she pushed her body fully against his, deepening the kiss.

If he was going to change his mind, if he was going to call it off or back off, she wanted to get as much out of this as she could before he did. Somehow though … she didn’t think he would. She broke the kiss briefly with the intention of asking him if they were going to keep this a secret, too, before she decided talking could wait. With that decision made, she claimed his lips again fiercely and passionately, her arms tightening around his shoulders as she clung to him.
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There was something surreal about actually kissing her now. It was something he’d been thinking about more than he cared to admit, ever since he’d started having those dreams. Despite how strange the whole thing was (and impossible), it was almost a relief that she was experiencing the same thing. Lately he’d been considering asking her out, finding it more and more difficult to talk himself out of it. But this … this was nice, and he didn’t mind things happening a little out of order.

His hands moved to her hips as she pressed fully against him, and he deepened the kiss as she did, whatever doubts that had been lingering melting away. He closed his eyes, and thought they would have to be careful not to get too caught up … if only because it was certainly possible someone might knock on the door at any moment.

He gasped as the kiss broke and opened his eyes, but then she was kissing him again and he hardly had any time to wonder if she’d been going to say something. The way she was kissing him -- which he returned just as fiercely -- was breathtaking and he groaned, pushing her gently back against the door since they were so close to it. They should probably talk, too … but right now, he couldn’t find it in him to break the kiss.
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It occurred to her very belatedly to wonder if he had appointments today. If he was expecting someone. If she shouldn’t actually have started something here. It was hard to hang onto those thoughts though, because kissing him felt good and it was fast driving all other thoughts from her mind.

While whatever was going on in their dreams probably had never happened (how could it have?), it somehow felt like it had, and it seemed like all they were doing was picking up where they’d left off -- even if they’d never actually touched each other like that here. It was all impossible. But she wasn’t exactly inclined to care about just how impossible it was if it brought this sort of situation around.

Juliet broke the kiss again, but only to breathe. She pressed her lips along his jaw until she reached his ear, where she bit gently. She wanted him, but she guessed doing that in his office wasn’t the best idea in the history of ever. He did have a room here though, and maybe after he was done with his office hours … and she was slightly less hung over …

Pressing a kiss to the flesh behind his ear, she pushed herself back slightly. “Should I come back later?” She asked, her eyes opening slowly. They were darker than usual, and it had everything to do with just how very aroused she was.
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It felt like it took a moment for his brain to start working again. Luckily he didn’t have any appointments in the next half hour or so, but even so, he would have stopped them soon or at least moved them up to his room.

“Yeah,” he murmured reluctantly, a little smile touching his lips. He didn’t release her entirely, but he did step back, putting a little distance between them. “I have an appointment at 2, but if you wanted to swing on back any time after that, I wouldn’t object one bit.”

He leaned in to press his lips to hers once more, briefly, before kissing her jaw and down her neck. Then he drew back once more, his own eyes dark with desire as he gazed at her. While he did think they should talk about where they were going with this, it didn’t feel like they did. But logically it didn’t seem like they should just assume things based on shared dreams.

Either way, he was glad she’d stopped by and he was eager to continue what they’d started.
___________

“Okay,” Juliet murmured, rubbing her hands along his arms. “So I suppose we should be responsible adults and talk before we fall into bed?” She smiled a little, but she was mostly serious. “Guess that’s a little presumptuous,” she conceded -- but it seemed like a very logical conclusion that they would end up in bed. When he was kissing her like that … she thought if it didn’t happen tonight, it would still happen soon.

Not exactly in a rush to move away from him, Juliet remained where she was, stroking his upper arms as she gazed up at him. Another dream-memory stirred to the surface, and she half-closed her eyes as if that would help her see it better. But in one of the dreams … he’d said he loved her. The thought of that, of hearing those words from him, sent a shiver through her, and she smiled a little before opening her eyes fully again.

“I’ll bring something for dinner?” She offered. “We can eat, and talk, and … see where everything goes?”
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“I had that thought too,” he admitted with a soft smile, “that we should talk. I’m willing to talk in bed, though, if you think we can manage.” Which he guessed might be a big if. They were both responsible adults, though. Surely they could control themselves long enough to sort things out between them, to make sure they were on the same page.

He gazed down at her, curious about her expression for a moment. There was something nice about it, though, and he lifted a hand to cup her cheek.

“That sounds great,” he agreed, leaning down to kiss her lips gently. “I’ll see you then.”
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Juliet laughed softly. “We’ll see how much talking we get done during dinner,” she decided before she leaned in to kiss him again. She meant to keep it chaste, and brief, and mostly did a good job at that. Breaking the kiss, she eased out from between him and the door, glancing over her shoulder to him as she reached for the door knob.

“I’ll see you tonight,” she promised him. She’d go home and have a nap and finish sleeping off her headache before she headed back here to have dinner, and talk and … just see where the night led. While she wanted to go back to him, to wrap her arms around him and claim his lips again, she made herself open the door instead. If she didn’t leave, she might not, and that wasn’t going to do anything productive for either of them just then.

So with a last smile and some reluctance, Juliet eased out of his office.