Jen kept her eyes on the floor as the sound of footsteps told her someone was approaching. She had hoped no one would notice her sitting as small and inconspicuous as possible in this corner of a quietly busy hospital lobby; no one had asked who she was or why she was there, and that was the way she wanted it. Just a little time away from the conflicts and doubts and the people who had caused them, a little time by herself to think. Was that too much to ask?
Apparently it was. The footsteps - heavy, a long and confident stride - had stopped. Now they started again, headed right for her. Stubbornly Jen kept her head bent as a pair of booted feet planted themselves in her view. She let her eyes drift in that direction enough to see more: laced black boots that ended a few inches above the ankle, navy blue uniform pants tucked into the tops, uncomfortable-looking bulky black kneepads above that.
A Silver Guardian. About to ask her if she was all right and who she was waiting for? Or - the one Silver Guardian who knew her, and who she was? Reluctantly, Jen let her gaze travel up a uniformed body, took note of a red braid over the right shoulder, and without any real surprise found a harsh, dark-eyed face frowning down at her.
“Eric,” she said, not as a greeting, just as acknowledgement.
“Jen,” he responded in much the same tone, an eyebrow lifting. “Are you waiting for Wes?”
“Yes. Well, sort of,” she said, looking away and shrugging as she heard the uncertainty in her own voice.
“Sort of?”
“Well, I thought he probably came here. To see how his father’s doing.” She looked up again. “Do you know? Is he...?”
“Dead? No. The doctors said he made a miraculous recovery.”
“He did?” Jen found herself smiling, for the first time in what felt like years but was less than two days. “Mr. Collins is going to be all right?”
“That’s what they say.”
Jen thought she saw relief in Eric’s expression. Had he been worried about his employer? “I’m so happy for Wes,” she said. “Do you know if he’s here?”
“Yeah. Brought him myself. He’s upstairs with his father.” Eric glanced in the direction of the elevators as if wishing he were with them.
“Oh. Good.” Jen looked down again. There didn’t seem much more to say, even with Eric in such an unusually agreeable mood.
Speaking of which - she expected, and hoped, that he would turn around and walk off again with a casual ‘see ya’ at that point. But to her surprise, he shifted his weight from foot to foot and then asked, “Is something wrong?”
No, she felt like answering bitterly. No, almost everything’s wrong. But she couldn’t say that, not to Eric. Jen looked up to his face and found guarded but genuine interest there, so unlike his usual blankness or hostility, so unexpected in its hint of sympathy that to her alarm she felt the tears stored inside her begin to well in her eyes. Hastily she turned away and said, “No - no, I’m fine.”
Eric surprised her again by sitting down next to her after a brief hesitation. “Did you get hurt in the fight or something?” he asked.
“Nothing like that. Nothing you want to hear about.”
“Is it Wes? Or that guy you got to take his place?”
“What?” Jen faced him, startled. “How did you know about that?”
Eric seemed more like his usual self as he smirked, and Jen realized she had just confirmed whatever suspicions he had. “Yesterday when I saw Wes at a Bio-Lab meeting, he didn’t have his morpher. When I left he was still there - but when I joined up with you guys to fight Dragontron, the Red Ranger was already with you.”
“You’re right. ‘That guy’ was Alex.” Jen sighed. “My fiancé,” she added, trying to keep her voice steady but not succeeding.
At least she had the small satisfaction of being the one to surprise him this time. “Your fiancé?” he asked.
“Alex was the Red Ranger in the year 3000. When Ransik escaped, he...” She dropped her eyes again and took a breath, determined not to show how much her emotions were betraying her. “We thought Alex was dead. Thought so for all these months, ever since we got here.”
“So what happened? He was sure alive when I saw him.”
“I don’t know what happened!” she cried, all the pent-up frustrations, disappointments, uncertainties, and hurts like a wave that swept over her, too high and deep to be stopped. “After the attack on Bio-Lab, when Mr. Collins got hurt, he showed up. Just came walking up to us. No explanations, no reason why he didn’t tell me he’s still alive, nothing, just walked in and took over, and made Wes give the morpher back. He’s - he’s so different; something’s changed him, but he won’t even talk to me.” She shook her head. “He’s gotten cold, and hard, even to me. He said he came to make sure history gets back on track, but with him here we almost lost the fight. We can’t work with Alex as leader; Lucas and Trip don’t like him, even Katie was angry. I begged him to give the morpher to Wes again, and he did, but now... I feel like we’ve taken everything away from him - his morpher - and - and... I don’t know what to do!”
Jen stopped as Eric moved, reaching into a pocket and then holding out a handkerchief. She took it and wiped her eyes, embarrassment overcoming everything else she was feeling, suddenly realizing how much she had said, and to Eric of all people. After blowing her nose, taking an unsteady breath and fighting for control, she was gratified by how much calmer her voice was. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said all that. I guess it’s just that I can’t talk to Alex, and I can’t talk to Wes or my teammates about Alex. You’re - you’re not involved, so...”
“So you felt like you could talk to me.”
“Yeah.” Jen glanced up at him. “Yeah, I guess so.”
She held out the damp handkerchief a little uncertainly, and saw his lips twitch in what could have been amusement. “Keep it,” he said. “So - what now? Is Alex staying? Is Wes still going to be a Ranger?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if he can get along with the rest of us. If he stays, there’ll be problems.” Jen sighed. “Alex and Wes... Strange how two people can look almost exactly alike, and be so different on the inside.”
“Wait - they look alike?” As Jen nodded, Eric’s eyes widened. “The doctor told me he saw someone who looked like Wes but with dark hair, just before Mr. Collins got better. It couldn’t have been Wes; that was the same time I was giving him a ride here.”
“Alex?” Could Alex have saved Wes’s father? He could easily have brought a healing globe or some similar device with him. Was the Alex she had known, the kind and caring man she had fallen in love with, still there somewhere inside the stranger who had walked back into her life? “But why?” she asked. “Why tell Wes his father was fated to die - and then save him without telling us?”
“Maybe he’s not such a bad guy after all,” Eric said. Struck by something in his tone, Jen looked up to find him staring moodily at the floor. “Maybe he knows he made some mistakes, and didn’t treat people the right way, and now he regrets it.”
Was he talking about Alex or himself? “Maybe,” she said, and glanced around the lobby. “I guess Wes may be a while.”
“Yeah, he and his dad must have a lot to talk about.”
“I should probably get back. Find out what Alex is planning to do.” Jen faced Eric as he stood also. “Thank you,” she said sincerely.
“What for?”
She smiled and said, “For the handkerchief,” before heading for the door.