[ Song fic: "Have we met before", by Sarah Barrios. I am thinking of this as a reincarnation fic, but that's just me. :) ]

Liz Bennet glanced up as someone sat down at the other end of the long cafe table she'd been studying at for the past hour. He wasn't near enough that she needed to move her books or lecture notes, though he was just close enough that no one could comfortably sit between them, leaving her to wonder if she should move closer to him to make more room on her other side. That would feel a bit odd though, she didn't want to encroach on his space.

The cafe was quiet at this time of day, so she'd spread out quite a bit even though this was intended as a shared table. Still, looking around she saw there were still a number of small tables free, so she decided it was fine to stay as she was for the moment.

She glanced at him again. He was reading a book—skimming it really, by the looks of things—and she wondered if he was also a student. He looked a bit older than her twenty years. At least twenty-five, she thought, and maybe closer to thirty.

Now that she looked at him again, he seemed sort of familiar, though she wasn't sure why, or where from. He was dark haired and, she had to admit, pretty darn hot. She wondered if he was tall, smiling to herself at the cliche.

He glanced up at her suddenly and she looked down, feeling the flush in her cheeks for being caught checking him out.

"Large Americano for William!"

He got up to retrieve his coffee and she automatically looked up again. He was tall. She smothered a laugh. There was something about him though. Even from behind he definitely reminded her of someone. It wasn't just his face, but his body language.

Maybe he was an actor she'd seen in a movie, because the familiarity seemed overlaid with a memory—or a feeling at least. Like there was a story attached, but one she couldn't quite access, like a dream she'd woken from and had only the sense memory of, without quite knowing what it contained.

It was a strange sense of déjà vu.

As he came back to the table, he glanced towards her and they made momentary eye contact. The shock of recognition she felt had her flushing again and she looked back down at her papers.

She still didn't know who he was, but for a moment she was sure she knew him. Him, not some character he'd played. The feeling was so strong of—of... she wasn't sure she could describe it, even to herself. But the look he'd given her—as though he knew her too. As though he could see right through her, into her soul.

Stop it Liz, she chastised herself. You're being ridiculous. The feeling she'd had. It was as though she'd...As though she'd loved him, in some other time. But the only people she'd ever had that kind of relationship with were fictional characters. Minor crushes and a hand full of short term boyfriends didn't really classify.

Her eyes were drawn irresistibly back to where he sat at the corner of her table. He seemed to be rereading the same pages, as though he was just as distracted as her. She could swear she knew him, but the memories felt like a dream. More a feeling than a memory, but it was a feeling of longing. A feeling of home; as though he was the one she would always run to, in a moment of need or of joy.

She looked down again, an inexplicable feeling of loss bringing tears to her eyes.

"Excuse me." She looked up in surprise, blinking away the tears. Was he speaking to her? "Sorry," he said, " I just... I think I know you. Have we met before?"