Rachel, Lorent, Klezmi, Silva, and a few others in minor roles are mine.
Rated PG : language; sexuality; violence; some mature concepts.
Last chapter. This started as a short what-if story, and ended as a novella. I hope some of you have enjoyed it. I have a great deal of fondness for the character of Alex, perhaps because I saw him as a complex and flawed hero, someone truly interesting to write about. This story became an effort to see events through his eyes.
Many thanks, as always, to everyone who read, even more to everyone who reviewed, and special thanks to all those who reviewed regularly. Your feedback means a lot. Stay tuned for the next story, 'The Time Tunnel'.
"Jen had evidence of what Klezmi had done, on dataclip. The kind of world he had created, with him in power, with the mutants much worse off than they are now." I paused for a breath. Logan watched me from the chrono-communicator screen. We were reporting in, Lucas, Trip, Katie, and I, the morning after our arrival back in 2003, giving Logan a brief description of what had happened.
"Eric gave Jen's dataclips to Conwing. Convinced him that all Klezmi cared about was himself, that he was selling his own people out. Whatever Conwing may be, he's loyal to his cause. He turned on Klezmi, killed him, and captured Silva. And Eric captured Steelix. Wes and Eric are fine. So's Jen."
"Good work, all of you."
I glanced around the large, comfortable guest bedroom in the Collins house where I had spent the night. "We really didn't do anything. It was all over when we got here."
"Well, congratulations anyway." He frowned. "Now. About Jen."
We all leaned forward with renewed interest.
"You were right, Trip. According to history, Jen will live the rest of her life there. Dagmar and Sierra think it would be dangerous to remove her."
"All right!" Trip said quietly but enthusiastically.
"I still don't understand how this happened," Logan grumbled.
"It doesn't matter, does it?" I said. "This is where she wants to be, and now she can stay."
"You said she has memories of our timeline, too?"
Trip answered him. "Yes, sir. They've been coming back to her, and she remembers almost everything now. She seems to have merged somehow with the Jen of our reality. Maybe because she's been involved in causing timeline shifts, more than once. Maybe because we all took that non-standard time jump a couple of months ago. It's the only explanation."
"I like that," Katie said slowly. "That means 'our' Jen didn't die, after all. She's here, alive."
Logan sighed. "I don't understand. All of this merging and timelines and reversed cause and effect and retroactive continuity -- it just gives me a headache."
Lucas laughed. "Me too. But we don't have to understand it. It still happened."
"Set up a meeting, with all of us, Jen, Wes, and Eric. I'll officially tell her she can stay."
"Are you going to let them all keep their morphers?" I asked.
With a smile, Logan answered. "Absolutely. According to history, they're going to need them."
After he switched off the communicator, Trip grinned at me. "Alex," he said, "I just thought of something."
"What?"
"If Jen's going to marry Wes -- and if you're his descendant…"
"Oh - My - God."
"Oh, my God!" Katie cried.
"Oh, my God!" Lucas choked, laughing.
"Yeah, Alex. She could be your great, great, great, great, and something grandmother!"
It was time for goodbyes again. This time Jen wasn't coming with us. At the meeting I had arranged later that morning Logan had told her she had become incorporated into the past. She belonged to this time. And to Wes. I was sad, feeling the pain of losing a friend, yet I couldn't be sorry when I saw her face light up with joy at the news.
Now we stood on the beach again, where so many goodbyes had taken place. I walked away from the others to stare out over the ocean. That was something that was the same in both times, the ocean never changed, when we arrived home I would see the same view, hear the same waves rushing to shore, watch the same seagulls wheeling in the sky.
"How are you doing?"
I turned to see Wes smiling at me, a little uncertainly. I wasn't surprised. Once I got over my jealousy, I had realized what a nice and decent person he really was. "I'm fine," I answered. "Sorry to say goodbye to Jen, of course. But I know she'll be happy."
"I just want you to know, I'm sorry about how things turned out."
I smiled back. "No, you're not. You love Jen, and you're very happy she can stay."
"Well, yeah. But…"
"Don't worry about me. It's been over between Jen and me for a long time. I was just too stubborn to give up."
"You'll find someone else. Soon."
"I think I already have."
His eyes lit happily. "Really? Anyone I know?"
I laughed. "That's not likely, is it? No, she's a scientist at Time Force. You never met her. I've known her for years, but I couldn't see past Jen, until now…"
"I hope it works out. You deserve it."
"Thanks." We both stood a little awkwardly for a few moments, before I went on. "Wes, a couple of months ago you asked me to take care of Jen for you. Now I can ask you the same thing. Take care of her. Make her happy."
"I'll sure do my best."
"It may be a hard adjustment for her."
He looked over at the others. I glanced and saw Jen hugging Katie. "I know. All I can do is love her."
"Then she'll be fine." I put out my hand, and we shook, and smiled, all our past hostilities forgotten.
As we slowly came back to the others, Eric detached himself from the pretty brunette whose hand he had been holding and came over. "Thanks for the help," he said, looking as uncomfortable as he usually did when showing his softer side.
"You're the one who helped us. You captured Conwing."
He snorted. "I didn't capture him. He realized what Klezmi was up to and turned against him. Surrendered."
"Well, from what I hear, you're the one who convinced him of the truth."
"Maybe," he said with a shrug. "Are you okay?" he went on. "I mean, about Jen."
"Yeah, I am. I've got someone else now. I think it'll turn out okay. Looks like you're doing okay, too."
He glanced at the woman who had been briefly introduced to me as Gabriella and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am."
"Have you fallen in love, since the last time we met?"
A grin, now, lighting his face. For the first time, I saw humor and warmth there, and considerable magnetism. "Too soon to tell. But she's a nice girl. Who knows?"
"I know. You two have some surprises coming..."
"What? What's going to happen to us?"
"Can't tell you. Temporal prime directive, and all."
"Right. I think you're full of shit." He tried to look angry, and failed, the curiosity winning out.
I couldn't resist. "You know," I said with an answering grin, "You're kind of a personal hero of mine."
"Huh? Why?" He looked so astonished I had to laugh.
"Can't tell you that. Just… keep up the good work. And be happy."
"See ya." He shook my hand when I offered it, still with a skeptical scowl on his face.
And then, after a brief handshake with Alan Collins, and with Wes and Eric's second-in-command, Steve Miller, the only person left was Jen. We faced each other. Everyone else who was staying in this time tactfully withdrew a few meters away. With equal tact, my teammates disappeared into the ship.
In that moment I could find nothing to say, and apparently neither could she. Wordlessly we hugged, staying in each other's arms for long, comforting moments as I struggled for self-control, trying to remember this was a good thing, that both of us should expect to be happy… But it was hard. Saying goodbye to someone you love always is.
Finally we let go and took each other's hands, trying to smile. "Good luck, Jen," I said. "I hope you have a wonderful life here."
"And you, back home. I hope you'll be happy, too."
"I think I will."
"If things had been different…" She hesitated and was silent.
"Maybe. But I think, now, we're too much alike. Both of us, too serious, too… focused on career and success. You need someone like Wes, who can make you laugh, who's a little more…"
"Childish?" She grinned.
"Mmm. Playful. Doesn't take himself too seriously."
"And how about you? What do you need?"
"I always thought you were just perfect." I smiled down into her face. "Maybe that was the problem. I never felt that you -- needed me. But now, I think I've found someone who does."
"I'm glad. And you're wrong. I always needed you. I still love you, in a different way."
"I know. Real love is like matter and energy. It can't be destroyed, it just -- changes." I released her hands reluctantly. "I'd better go. And you'd better get back to Wes, he looks like he's ready to use that blaster on me. Take care of yourself."
"You too. I hope we see each other again. Someday."
"I hope so. Goodbye."
I kissed her, one last time, raised a hand and wiped a tear from her cheek with my thumb. Then I ran for the ship before I could start crying myself.
The ride back passed in a blur. I stared out of the porthole most of the time, not looking at anyone else. All of us were quiet, beyond Lucas's routine announcements as we took off, entered and left the timehole, and landed. Even the awe-inspiring swirl of color and energy surrounding us during our journey didn't really get through.
She was waiting when I stepped out, hanging back behind Logan. I shook his hand and responded to whatever he said to me, and then finally was face to face with Rachel. The others gave us some room.
"How did it go?" she asked.
I shrugged. "It went fine. We brought Conwing, Steelix, and Silva back. Klezmi's dead."
"And how are you?"
"I'm fine."
"Jen?"
"With Wes. Happy. She's… in the past now."
Rachel smiled, that warm, bright smile I had learned to love. I leaned in to kiss her, not caring who was watching. Her arms closed around me, and I hugged her tighter, feeling her lips soft against mine, feeling that perhaps I had finally, truly, found what I was looking for.
Perfect? Nothing is. But damn close.