Alec

In the beginning, it's nothing. Just a harmless crush. Alec can't recall exactly when he started noticing Kiera. Maybe sometime around when he receives a message from his future self, telling him Kiera was sent back for a reason. Obviously she's important to this unfamiliar version of himself in sixty years' time, but slowly he realizes how much she matters to him now, too.

He tries a thousand ways to talk himself out of it. There's the age difference, for starters; and she's married, which would ordinarily be a very solid logical argument against indulging a crush, but even Kiera herself, determined as she is, has begun to despair of ever returning to her version of 2077, and when she talks about trying to build a life for herself here, in this time, Alec catches himself imagining what it would be like to be a part of that life. And once he sees her that way, he finds he can't stop looking.

He sees through her eyes, and it captivates him. Not so much what she sees, but how she sees it. What she chooses to look at, how long she dwells on any particular sight, which things draw her attention, and which things hold it… He's fascinated.

It shouldn't be that big of a deal. He's determined not to let it consume him, but he thinks too much. But it's not like it could ever really happen, right? When Kiera asks what he does with his free time, he jokes about girls thinking he's taken. At first, she snorts and brushes it off. After the third or fourth time he mentions it, though (maybe he's laying it on too thick?), she snaps at him. He stops bringing it up.

Kiera

It's nothing, at first. Just some light teasing, here and there. "In your dreams," she tells him, and she means it. But one night, they're hunched over a computer monitor, munching on some hastily microwaved ramen because they'd both forgotten to eat that day (too busy chasing down terrorists out of time), and Alec says offhand, "You know, I stood up a date for this. Guess I'll have to tell her she has to share my heart," and something inside Kiera breaks. She yells at him, she's not sure what she says but she regrets it instantly when she sees a wounded expression flash over his face before he manages to erase it. She excuses herself and, once she's alone in the bathroom, she indulges her sadness for just a moment. She misses her husband and she misses Sam, and this isn't right, nothing about this time and place is right… but that's not true, is it?

In a very odd way, she's beginning to feel that she's found her way home, with the Liber8 investigation and Carlos and yes, weirdly, with Alec Sadler. It's hard to conceptualize her friendship with the most powerful man of her time, hard to reconcile the Alec she knows now with the magnate he'll supposedly become. She can't help feeling she's stealing his formative years away from him, and it's strange, but a part of her sort of likes knowing how important she is to him. It feels like a betrayal of her other life to even think this, but maybe there is something here for her. Slowly, the future is well and truly becoming her past, and she's not sure she entirely minds.

Alec

Time passes. Alex and Kiera settle into a comfortable rhythm; chasing bad guys, but more often than not battling inner demons and whatnot. They share a common dread of the passage of time: Alec because he fears becoming the heartless CEO Kiera describes (maybe he's reading between the lines a little too much); Kiera because she worries she's settling too comfortably into this decade. She confesses this to Alec one night while she's doing laundry (of all things); he suspects she couldn't say it face to face.

"I can't let myself be happy in this time, Alec. It's like I'm saying they didn't matter."

He doesn't know what to say initially. A beat passes, then two. Three, four. Words have never been his element. Maybe the moment's gone, but then, he feels this is too important just ignore, so he tries for her sake.

"I know – well, I don't know, I've never been in your shoes – but – well, I can only imagine—"

"It's okay, Alec. You don't have to say anything. I know I sound ungrateful; I promise I'm not. I really do appreciate what I have here. It could be a good life. I just…" She's crying now, and trying to hide it. She should know by now that she can't hide this kind of thing from him. Not just because of her CMR; he knows her now.

"You're not giving up on them, you know," he reminds her gently. "You can love your family and still want to make something new."

She sniffs and he can hear her wipe her nose on her sleeve. A small, unquiet part of him reflects that he loves her for that, though he couldn't explain why if asked. The rest of him tells that part to shush.

"I miss them so much, Alec. If I didn't have you and Carlos… I don't know where I'd be."

"Don't forget Liber8," Alec adds. "You need a purpose. You're a Protector. It's who you are."

"Every Protector needs a partner. I had Elena… but I've lost her all over again. Thanks… for being my partner, Alec."

"Isn't that Carlos' job?" Alec hopes he managed to keep the note of jealousy out of his voice.

Kiera pauses. "There's more than one kind of partner, I guess."

It's small, but that obnoxiously romantic part of him rejoices in the victory.

Kiera

It really shouldn't have been a big deal; it's not like it's a matter of life or death. He doesn't answer her right away when she tries to contact him via CMR. Turns out he's on a date.

Her anger surprises her, and him. "You're the one who told me to get a life!" he protests.

"I know," she replies, struggling to keep her voice level. "I know. I just didn't mean for… this to happen."

It's true, she realizes. She didn't mean for any of this to happen.

She didn't mean to go back in time. Didn't mean to lie her way into a position with Vancouver PD. Didn't mean to become a savior to a decade that's not even her own. Didn't mean to begin falling for Alec Sadler. Didn't mean to—

All of a sudden, she's intensely grateful that her thoughts, at least, are entirely her own. Did she really just think that? About Alec, of all people?

While she's busy berating herself for going there, even in her mind, a small voice in her head is arguing too enthusiastically for the idea. Well, why not? A thousand reasons! Kiera wants to shout at the stubbornly starry-eyed side of herself. He's a teenager! (Hardly, starry-eyed Kiera scoffs.) She's married! (Sixty years from now.) He's the most powerful man in the world! (In a version of events that's becoming less likely to hold true by the day.) He's clearly not interested in her! (But then again…)

She stops in her tracks – she hadn't even noticed she'd begun pacing around her apartment. All those jokes he's made about them being a couple… What if he wasn't being entirely facetious? They've been spending a lot more time together, it's true. And not always fighting evil. Sometimes they're just together, playing video games – Kiera finds she's much better at them in 2013, they're less complicated – or trading knowledge about tech, or eating, or just talking.

All at once Kiera wishes she could take a turn being in Alec's head for a change.

Alec

At first it annoyed him when Kiera interrupted his date. He was really trying to live as normal a life as possible, which wasn't easy when he spent most of his time as technical supergenius support for a time-travelling crimefighter. It's not that he's not good with girls – well, at least, he's not awful with them. It's just that he usually has other things to do with his time, and he's sort of awkward. But this girl was pretty, and nice, and actually noticed him, which was nice for a change.

But. Was that jealousy he detected in Kiera's voice when she couldn't reach him right away? That makes him all kinds of smug, and against his better judgment, he allows his mind to wander. By the time he gets home and his roommate asks how the date went, he's almost forgotten said date was not, in fact, with Kiera.

He doesn't go out with that girl again. (Which is okay, they didn't really click anyway. Alec spent the date convincing himself he wasn't comparing the girl in front of him to some mental checklist that's definitely not labeled "Kiera Cameron.")

He finds himself making excuses to spend more time with Kiera, like updating her suit, and he keeps catching himself touching her – just little, very nonthreatening things, a brush against her hand here, a playful bump to the shoulder there. The weirdest part is, he could swear she's doing it back.

Kiera

Alec is not subtle. It's a quality he almost entirely lacks. Kiera can't believe it took her this long to realize how utterly infatuated he is with her. It makes her feel horribly guilty, because she can never reciprocate.

Can she?

She feels like she's twenty again, falling in love with a man just out of reach. It's so different than it was with Greg, though. Before he proposed to her, she never felt sure of where she stood with him. It ended in happiness, of course. It ended with marriage and a child, not necessarily in that order, and with a life together, a good life.

No, it ended with her here, in 2013. It ended with her chasing criminals she helped condemn to death, once. It ended with her separated from everything she's ever known.

But it doesn't have to end here. It can end with a new beginning. Can't it?

Is it possible for one person to find a good life twice?

Alec

In the end, the truth just sort of bursts out of him. He doesn't plan it, doesn't even realize he's going to say anything until, spur of the moment, he does. He's not sure exactly what he says, because there's a rushing sound in his ears like he's going to pass out, and his brain and mouth aren't exactly the best of allies right now, but he must have said something, and it must have been real words that made sense together, because Kiera's giving him a startled and meaningful look, and he's about to cut his losses and run, because how could he be so stupid—

"Alec," she says slowly, like his name is something unfamiliar in her mouth, even though she's said a thousand times.

"You don't have to – you don't have to say anything," he stammers. "I'm sorry. I know it's weird, and it's not like that for you, and it's okay, really, I—"

"Alec," she says, more firmly this time, "shut up."

He stops talking. Stops breathing, maybe.

"I do… I do like you," she murmurs. She's staring at him with a look of wonder on her face, and he wishes he could see this moment through her eyes. Except he doesn't really, because he'd have to be looking at a computer screen instead of actually at her, and he's suddenly quite content to be experiencing whatever this is, as opposed to the panic he was feeling just a minute ago.

"God help me, I know there are a thousand reasons I shouldn't, but… I do.

"I thought for the longest time I knew what was coming. I thought the future was certain. I thought I was certain." She smiles then. "Who knew the girl who knew everything could be surprised by herself?"

He wants to let out a celebratory whoop. He wants to kiss her. He does neither of those things. He's afraid of breaking this, whatever this is.

"I can't make any promises yet," Kiera warns. "I don't know where we go from here. This is uncharted territory."

He clears his throat and hopes words won't fail him. "Luckily, we're figuring this out together."

It's not everything he's dreamed of. But it's a start.