Standing in front of his open closet door, Sam dithered over what to wear.  He hadn’t been this nervous since his first surgery.  His hands were shaking and he had to fight the urge to go throw up.  Finding a glass of water by his bed, he drank it down slowly, fighting for some equanimity.  Deep breaths, Sam.  Take deep breaths and remember what Ruth said.

 The jeans he’d worn Sunday night were still hanging on the back of his desk chair.  He took off his sweats and threw them on the bed before pulling on the worn denim.  For a long moment, he couldn’t remember if he even had a red sweater then he remembered last Christmas and headed for the built in cedar drawers at the end of his closet.  Rummaging through them, he pulled out the red sweater that his mother had knitted for him.

 Pulling it on over his head, he looked at himself in the mirror on the sliding closet door.  For a moment, his image morphed into a dark haired man wearing a white tunic over leather leggings, then with a blink, he was himself again.  Groaning out loud, he looked in despair at his ordinary features.

 “You look like a dork, Sam Hamilton.”  He muttered and pinched his cheeks to try and get some color into them.  “Shoes.  Where are your shoes?”

 He checked the closet, the bathroom he shared with Toby and under his desk but the black loafers were nowhere in sight.  Getting down on his hands and knees, he peered under the bed and finally saw them.  Pulling the first one out from under, he stretched to reach the other one.

 The sound of a tap on his door and the creaking hinge came at the same moment he got a finger hooked on the heel.  “I’ll be right with you.”

 “No hurry, Sam.  The view from here is inspiring.”  The rich warm tones froze him to the spot then made him shiver.

 He wriggled out from under the bed and sat back to look at the man leaning against the door.  He’d changed out of the trim Marine uniform and wore a pair of black pants topped with a green and black sweater.  He looked . . . edible, Sam decided.

 “Hi.”  He managed to croak.

 “Hi, yourself.  This is going to sound like the worst pick up line ever written but,” Colonel Griffin shook his head ruefully, coming further into the room.  “But I think we’ve met before . . . Xenos.”

 Sam shivered at the familiar sound of that voice speaking his other name.  Holding out a hand, he let the other man pull him to his feet.  “Sar.”

 Then those strong arms were holding him tight while he tried to bury himself in the embrace.  This was nothing like hugging a woman.  A hard chest matched his own while the arms that held him were just as strong as his.  Taking a deep breath of the shoulder where his face rested, he savored the blend of Old Spice and laundry softener.

 “I’m a little scared, Seth.”  He muttered into the sweater.

 “Don’t ever be scared of me, Sam.  This attraction was there right from the moment I flipped on the light and saw you curled up in my bed.  For a moment, I felt like I’d won the lottery.”  Seth chuckled and Sam could feel the sound vibrate through his body.

 “You took care of me and made me feel better after what had been a truly awful day.”  Sam pulled back just far enough to see Seth’s eyes.

 “I wish I could have done more.”  Seth’s hand came up and gently brushed back the lock of hair that was always falling onto his forehead.  “I wanted to crawl into bed with you but that might have been a bit much.”

 “I’d have liked that.”  Sam whispered over the lump in his throat.

 “Sam.”  Seth breathed his name before leaning in for their first kiss.

 Well, the first kiss in this lifetime, Sam thought through a haze of sensation that befuddled all his senses.  Who knew his lips would be so soft?

 Coffee.

 Toothpaste.

 Something that was just Seth and instantly addicting.

 Sam took a deep breath when Seth pulled far enough away for them to breathe.  “Wow.”  Seth began to chuckle and Sam smiled.  “We’ve got things to do, Seth but I’d like a rain check on this.”

 “Oh, you have one, Sam.  Rain or shine, we will continue this later.”  Seth dropped his hands and took his own deep breath.

 “Downstairs.”  Sam couldn’t resist one last touch of a still smooth cheek.  “Mom and Ruth both know but I don’t think the others do.”

 “Understood.  I’ll try to keep my hands to myself.  It would probably help if you wore something bulky and shapeless so I’m not tempted to touch you and keep touching you.”  Seth sighed.

 “I could say the same.”  Sam said shyly.  “But I think the story you’re about to hear will keep your mind off us for a while.”

 Seth arched an elegant eyebrow and nodded while Sam jammed his feet into his shoes.  They walked down the wide oak stairs side by side but not touching.  Sam decided he’d have to put his hands in his pockets because they’d developed a mind of their own and kept wandering towards Seth.

 “This is going to be harder than I thought.”  He said a little desperately.

 “I know.  You have no idea how hard it was to keep my eyes and hands off of you Sunday night.  When you went quiet, I was afraid that I’d misread the signals.”

 Sam stopped on the last step.  “I was sending out signals?”

 “Oh, Lord.  Don’t tell me you’ve never been attracted to a man before.”  Seth bowed his head.

 “I’m sorry.”  Sam didn’t know what else to say.

 A hand caught his and squeezed tightly.  “Nothing to be sorry for, Sam.  I’m afraid I can’t say the same.  But I can promise you we’ll go slow so you can decide if this has any future.”

 Sam fought back a smile, not sure if Seth would understand.  “We’ve already got a past.  I think the future could be even better.”

 “The dream?  A past life memory?”  Seth arched that eyebrow again and Sam’s fingers itched to smooth it.

 “Ruth can explain it.”  Sam finished descending the stairs and gave into the urge to touch his cheek one more time.  Seth turned his head enough to feather a kiss across his palm, sending a lightning bolt straight to his groin.

 “In at least one of my past lives, I must have been very, very good.”  Seth sighed and stepped back, putting the proper eighteen inches that society demanded between them.

 “Me, too.”  Sam whispered and led him into the kitchen.

 His mom was arranging what looked to be a dozen roses in one of her crystal vases, while Ruth delicately stroked one of them against her scarred cheek.

 “I’d forgotten how very sweet they smell.”  Ruth mused and lifted her eyes to meet their curious gaze.  “We sent Toby and Mei Ling to the store.  There’s several ways we could do this but the easiest is for you to sit by me while I explain.”

 Seth sat beside her and Sam took the chair on her other side.

 Ruth laid the rose on the table and took a deep breath.  “There is a connection between us all ready.  What I need to do is bridge the gap.”  Reaching out her right hand, she stroked the center of Seth’s forehead before tracing a circle on his skin.  His eyes closed slowly as if weighted, then Sam felt her left hand on his forehead and before he could react, he was somewhere else.

**********

 Black clouds raced across the sky, raining black ash and stone down upon us.  I called out Sar’s name but he was lost among the panicking crowd.  Fire glowed to the north like the pits of Tartarus, shooting into the blackened sky with pillars of flame.  The air choked rather than refreshed and I had to keep telling those I was shepherding to pull part of their tunics over their mouth so they could breathe.  The other guards tried to keep everyone moving but the crowd could not understand what was happening and so they milled around not moving away from the palace in the direction that we needed them to go.

 A hand on my shoulder startled me but then I realized it was Sar.  His temple was cut and bleeding sluggishly but he shook his head when I moved to bind it.

 “Not important.  The grooms are bringing out the horses.  Our people will follow when they can see who’s in charge.”  Sar held my arm and I had to use all my willpower not to hold on to him and never let go.  “We need to lead them south to the mountains.  The earth has moved twice and I’m afraid there will be a tidal wave when the volcano erupts again.”

 “Will this rain of stone stop if we go further south?”

 “No, I fear my sister has unleashed all the powers of Hades against the bright lights that fell from the sky.”

 “Could she have made it safely off Thira before it erupted?”

 His face twisted in grief.  “No.  No one could have survived once the eruption began.  She has done what the gods told her to do, now it’s up to us to honor her memory by saving as many of her people as we can.”

 The neighing of horses came from behind us and we moved through the crowd to our mounts.  I swung up onto the white mare I’d raised from a foal.  Moonglow pranced beneath me, not liking the crowds or the constant sting of the unusual rain.  Sar swung up onto Thunder, his favorite stallion.  Yelling out, he got those nearest us to stop panicking and start listening.

 “Head for the Dhiktis Mountains.  We should be safe there until Our Mother the Sea subsides.”  He pointed south and began moving Thunder in that direction.  Given a leader to follow, most of the crowd began to move in that direction.  The household wagons appeared, heaped with storage jars behind us.

 I rode up along side Sar and he motioned me to move three or four horse lengths away so we could control more of the crowd.  The rest of the guard scattered out about the same distance and we slowly got our people moving towards the far mountains where they could find shelter from the gathering storm.  The earth moved uneasily beneath our feet and Moonglow shied away from the people near her.

 It took all my concentration to keep her steady and moving towards the rolling hills to the south of us.  The light changed around us, glowing eerily through the gathering clouds.  The people around us were doing their best but most of them were unaccustomed to walking such long distances.  A mother, who led two young children and carried a third, faltered ahead of me and I swung off Moonglow when I reached her side.

 “Ma’am, why don’t you ride for awhile.  The children could use the rest.”

 She nodded gratefully and I helped her to mount then set one small boy ahead of her and one behind, telling him to hold on to his mother tightly.  The first boy held the baby with his mother’s arms about them both.  I stayed near, in case Moonglow objected but apart from rolling her eyes at me, she kept an even pace.

 I noticed that Sar had given up Thunder to a lame boy and his grandfather while each of the carthorses had picked up a rider or two.  For a moment, I actually thought that we might survive this war of the gods then a long wail came from behind us and I turned to see the largest wave of water I have ever seen reach the harbor.  It appeared higher than the mountains we could not reach in time.

 My eyes met Sar’s gaze, our recognition of what was to come needing no words. Yelling at the matron and children to hold on, I used the flat of my blade to smack Moonglow’s hindquarters.  She took off at a dead run, scattering the crowd before her.  I headed towards Sar and met him in time to feel the chill of the great wall of water sweep over us.

**************

 Sam opened his eyes, feeling like a stranger in his own kitchen.  For a moment, he saw Sar’s face superimposed over Seth’s then it changed between one blink and the next.  His hand went out across the table and Seth’s was there to catch it in a grip of iron.  Ruth pushed back her chair and almost ran to the back door before opening it and disappearing.

 “What just happened?”  His mom sat down with a thump.  “It was you then it wasn’t.  You were speaking Greek to each other and then Ruth let out a cry and dropped her hands.”

 “How long, Mom?”  Sam stood on shaky legs.

 “A minute?  Maybe less.”

 “Damn, that was . . . I’m not sure what that was.”  Seth shook his head.

 “I have to go check on Ruth.  Mom, would you put the kettle on?”  Sam dropped a kiss on his mother’s head and shook his head at Seth’s questioning look.

 She hadn’t gone far, just to the birdbath by the garage.  He saw the tear tracks and handed her a tissue from his pocket.

 “I don’t know why She keeps bringing me back.  All I do is get everybody killed.  You think She would have learned from Atlantis.  At least we had two colonies, which survived that debacle.  Removing the vent plug below Thira to activate the volcano just ensured that most of the population of the Mediterranean along the coasts died horrible deaths.  Not to mention wiping out the first civilized kingdom of the Aegean.”

 “You died along with us.”  Sam stuck his hands into his pockets and watched a cardinal on a low branch.

 “I don’t matter, Sam.  I belong to Her and She uses me as needed.”  She was watching the red bird too and holding out her hand above the water, she whistled gently.  The bird cocked his head and bobbed it up and down for a moment before gathering his courage and flying down to the water’s edge.  He chirped a question and she chirped back in perfect imitation.

 Sam stood perfectly still, almost afraid to breathe while the cardinal drank his fill, bobbing his head to Ruth again then taking wing back to the old apple tree by the bend in the path.  “That’s . . . I don’t quite know what to call that.”

 “Remnants of my first-self.”  Ruth sighed and rubbed her temple.  “I’m so tired of screwing up.  I thought I was free and clear of all entanglements this time around.  But everywhere I turn there’s someone from one of my other lives.  Your mother asked if I thought your oldest brother knew me too.  I’d just as soon not find out, thank you very much."

 Sam tried not to smile but the plaintive note in her voice had him coughing unconvincingly into his hand.  “What are the odds of that happening?”

 Ruth snorted derisively.  “When She’s involved?  There are no odds.  There is only action.  At least you and Toby will get something out of this imbroglio.”

 Feeling eyes on them, Sam turned to see Seth walking towards them.  “I approve of Her matchmaking skills.”

 She turned to watch Seth approach.  “I have to say that in both your cases, I do too.  But then She always did have a soft spot for green eyes.”

 “I have the feeling that I shouldn’t ask what you mean.”  Seth stood beside Sam within touching distance and Sam had to fight the urge to give in and just reach out for him.  “So, Sam and I were lovers in ancient Greece.  And you were my sister.”

 “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on making any claims on you except to ask for your help in retrieving a crystal from the basement of the Peabody.  Please.”  Ruth stood straight and looked up into his eyes.

 “All right, I’ll see what I can do.”

 “Today.  Time is growing short.”

 Seth’s eyebrow arched in question.

 “Even if you get the ball rolling today, I estimate that it will be Thursday before we can actually see what’s inside those boxes.  And I’m going to ask you to look the other way when I find the crystal.  If you have a problem with that I need to know now.”

 “A shard of crystal with bubbles inside that made rainbows when light shone through it.”  It was not quite a question.

 “It’s twin.  The one I had at Thira was destroyed along with the Ikiiri.”

 “Bright lights in the sky and a loud clap of thunder, we thought was Zeus with his lightning bolts.  A sonic boom?”  Seth rocked back and forth on his heels with his hands firmly fixed in his pants pockets.

 “Yes, in a manner of speaking.  They are not of Earth.”

 “And they come every two thousand years?”  Sam put another piece into the puzzle that was his patient.  “They challenge a representative from Earth for what?”

 “For Earth.  When I confront her, I am Earth’s avatar.  I never lose, gentleman, in case you’re wondering.  It’s the damn fall out that I find so unacceptable.  There has to be a way to keep our conflict from decimating half the known world.”  She paced back and forth.

 Sam decided that if she had a tail, it would be whipping back and forth in agitation.  Just then, a small sparrow flew in and settled on her shoulder.  With a chirp, they began a conversation back and forth until he flew away.  Sam watched Seth watch her with wide eyes and a half-disbelieving smile on his firm lips.

 He dragged his attention away from those lips and put it back on his patient who was standing as still as the stone fountain.  A breeze blew up from the creek, blowing a blast of cold air across his skin like an icy caress.  Her head tilted up, following the sound of the wind among the bare branches of the apple tree.  Ruth nodded to the tree and held out her good hand as if to catch the invisible air.

 Turning slowly, she gazed at them with a half-smile on her lips.  “We need to get inside so Seth can start the ball rolling.  I’ll need to go to Boston tonight or tomorrow.  Will that be a problem?”

 Sam shook his head.  “I’ve got to go into the clinic tomorrow anyway.  It’s Wednesday and my shift.”

 Nodding, she eyed Seth with a rather speculative look.  “Perhaps you would be willing to take a couple of personal days, Colonel?  Until we get in and out, I need your full attention.”  Then she grinned.  “Only what you can spare from Sam, of course.”

 Seth’s grin matched her own while he bowed to the small woman who stood so commandingly before him.  “Difficult but not impossible.  He is a distraction.”

 Then they were both looking at him and Sam was blushing so hard, he could feel his ears go red.  He figured he was saved an embarrassing interlude when Toby and Mei Ling drove in.  They all helped carry in the grocery sacks and Ruth went to take a nap while they put away the perishables.  Seth made two calls before he found the person he was looking for.

 “Marag dearest, I need a favor.”  He sat at the kitchen table with a note pad before him.  “Now, don’t be that way, it wasn’t my fault that your son went into the Navy.  How is he doing?”

 Sam put a cup of tea in front of him then sat down with the cookie jar.  Seth thanked him with a smile and a brush of his hand.  It felt like a thousand volts of electricity arcing through him.  Both their eyes widened and they exchanged a look that sizzled.

 “Marag, are you still on the Board of Directors of the Peabody Museum?”  Seth sat up straight and picked up the pen.  “Did you know that Great Uncle Silas Griffin backed an expedition to China in 1903 before he stroked out?  And that the Peabody’s Professor Turner was the archaeologist?”

 He sat and nodded to his cousin, jotting down a word or two.  “What are the odds of getting those crates out of the basement and cataloged?” He grimaced. “That long, huh?  Would money help?  And two archaeology students who are just itching to earn some extra credit?”

 Mei Ling sat down on his other side and slid the cookie jar away from Sam.  He mock growled at her and she stuck out her tongue at him.  Toby sat down by her and calmly took the jar into his possession with a smug air of triumph that quickly turned to dismay when he realized that it was empty.

 “All right, one more incentive.”  Seth sighed and put a hand over the mouthpiece.  “Sam, can I tell her about you and Ruth?”

 “How much are you going to tell her?  Is she a reincarnation believer?”
 
 “She’s the matchmaker of the family.”  Seth’s eyes asked the real question.  Do you mind if she knows that we are maybe an item?

 Sam took a deep breath and caught a caring look from Mei Ling.  “Go ahead, Seth.”

 “I have just met two of the most fascinating people, Marag.  Ruth has knowledge of several of her past lives.  And Dr. Sam Hamilton is the officer I told you about from Kosovo.”  He held the phone away from his ear and the every one heard the squeal of delight.  Bringing it back gingerly, he tried to get her attention.  “Marag . . . Marag . . . dearest cousin, there will be time for that later.  I promise I’ll introduce you to them both.  But I really need those crates out of the basement and into a place where they can be taken apart and everything in them examined.”

 Julie joined them at the table with the teapot in hand and a plate of fresh, hot oatmeal cookies from the oven.  Sam took one with a smile and munched it happily while Seth kept up a constant litany of ‘yes’ and ‘un-huh’ and ‘really’.  Toby and Mei Ling fought over who would get the biggest of the cookies until Seth reached over and calmly took it out from under their noses.

 “Good, Marag.  We’ll be there at 0800 tomorrow morning.  Can you let us in the staff entrance?  Excellent, we’ll all be there.  And Marag, be nice.”  He laughed and arose to hang up the phone.  “See you tomorrow.”

 “How is she going to get permission?”  Mei Ling asked curiously.

 “The board meeting isn’t for three weeks so she’s going to have the crates brought up there for us to go through.  The board table is nice and long so it will make a great place to lay out all the items as we uncrate them.”  Seth took a sip of his tea.

 “Cool!  We’re going to need tags and small boxes that we can use to put like items together.”  Mei Ling appropriated the notebook while she and Toby made a list of things needed.

 Sam sat back and watched his little brother competently put together a plan of action.  The maturity of the nineteen-year-old amazed him, especially when he thought back to his own youth.  But long before the list was complete, he’d gone back to watching Seth.  The way he laughed, the gestures of his hands, the gleam in his eyes and the heat of him where their knees touched under the table all combined to feed the need he had to touch him.

 Seth glanced over and something in Sam’s gaze must have warned him that privacy was needed.  Just then, Ruth began to cough again.  Julie poured a cup of tea and handed it to Sam who gestured to Seth to follow him into the bedroom.  Once they were inside with the door shut, Sam handed the newly wakened Ruth her tea and turned into Seth’s arms.

 “This constant need to touch you is rather disconcerting.”  Seth said quietly in his ear while his strong hands soothed long strokes across his back.

 “Oh good, it isn’t just me.”  Sam sighed and nestled his head into the inviting curve of neck and shoulder.

 “Go slowly, my friends.”  Ruth’s voice rasped a little.  “Give yourselves the time to gently explore the possibilities.  Part of you is Xenos and Sarpedon but they are only a part.  There is much to learn of your new selves.  Take the time to do it right.”

 “Good advice, Ruth.  But it will be hard.”  Seth settled his hands at Sam’s waist.

 Sam pulled back a little.  “We could start with dinner out tonight.”

 A slow smile was his answer.

 “Good idea.  A date is just what you need.”  Ruth smiled on them both.

 A date.  Just what the doctor ordered.  Sam grinned and felt the hum of anticipation thrum through him.

*******************
End chapter nine