Disclaimer: The Power Rangers Time Force, characters names, distinctive
likenesses, and all related indicia belong to BuenaVista Entertainment.
Anyone not seen in Power Rangers is mine. That should do it.
Author's note: here I'm assuming Jen and the other have been back for quite some time, about two years. As you will notice, Jen has realized she loves Alex, and wishes to have him back. I don't want to write how that happened, so I'll just assume it already happened, ok? And Alex is still a bit mad at her, he loves her, but the man's got to protect his pride, right? ; ) Very Special thanks to Cmar, for being my Beta Reader, you are the best, girl! (
Let Me Sleep.
By: Shirley Chong.
"Who's that?!" Jen asked, pointing at a voluptuous blonde woman, who was sitting with Alex in the Time Force cafeteria, holding his hand.
"Oh, that's Brynn," Katie said with a smile. "You know, Alex's new girlfriend," she added, looking at Jen's face with a playful gleam in her green eyes.
"It's impossible that woman is Alex's girlfriend," Jen said, not taking her eyes off Brynn. Katie sensed a little hostility in her friend's voice.
"Why's that?" Katie asked with a fake innocent tone of voice, taking a sip of her drink. The smile on her face was playful; unless she was very much mistaken Jen was jealous.
"She's blonde," Jen said, her face showing what seemed to be disgust.
"And?" Katie asked; she was enjoying Jen's face.
"Alex is not into blondes. And look at her, she has 'stupid' written all over her, with that bimbo, Barbie doll body. She's not dating Alex," Jen said matter-of-factly, looking at Katie.
"She's not? Are we sure?" Katie insisted. Jen finally looked at her.
"Of course. I know Alex, he would never date--" she shut up suddenly, her lower lip trembling. Alex was kissing that woman as if he wanted to suck her internal organs through her mouth. She found herself thinking he had never kissed her like that, so deeply and lustily, and publicly. Katie turned around and saw the scene with an amazed expression. She turned to see Jen and saw her friend's eyes were tearful.
"Jen?" Katie asked, no longer playfully, touching her friend's wrist across the table. Jen, who had been staring at the couple as if hypnotized, gave a start at the touch, and looked at her.
"Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm not jealous at all," It was an obvious lie, her voice was broken, but her expression was dignified. She got up shaking her head slightly, as if trying to shake the image of Alex making out with that woman. "I'm late for my workout. I'll see you later," she said and walked away. Katie looked at her, puzzled.
*********
Alex had a new girlfriend.
It hit her like a boulder, right across the cheek.
He had replaced her. With a blonde big-breasted woman.
She entered the Time Force gym locker-room and changed her clothes, her eyes producing more tears than she could hold back. She let some of them slip down her cheeks, but wiped them off fast.
She exited the locker room and walked towards a punching bag. She focused on it and started beating it with rage; honest, pure, straight from the heart rage, flamed by regret and pain. When she punched she saw the people she blamed for her misery: Alex, Wes and, of course, herself.
She was especially hard on herself.
She didn't know for how long she punched and kicked, but she didn't stop until she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily, her eyes tearful again. There was no one there to put a hand on her shoulder, to ask her if she was alright.
She was all alone.
Jen got up and walked to the showers, her body felt as if it was about to collapse. She undressed and started a shower, watching the water fall and hearing it echoing on the tiles for a little before getting into it. While she was showering she heard the locker room door open, somebody else was there. She tried not to sob; she didn't want to be asked any questions.
She wiped her face and stepped out of the shower, the silence making her believe she was alone. To her surprise, she wasn't, and the other person in the locker room was no other than Alex's new girlfriend, Brynn.
"Oh, hi," Jen said with a fake happy tone. "I thought I was alone." Brynn looked at her for a few seconds.
"You are Alex's ex-girlfriend, right?" she asked. Jen nodded, busying herself with her clothes, trying to avoid Brynn's eyes. "I saw your picture in his apartment the other day."
"He still has my picture in his apartment?" Jen asked. Brynn nodded.
"He asked me to understand, saying that you two had a close relationship, that you almost got married. He asked me not to be angry at him for admiring you, because he was proud of you and I agreed," Brynn said. Jen looked at her.
"You agreed?" she repeated in disbelief. Brynn shrugged.
"He's so handsome and amazing I really don't mind," she explained, smiling at Jen, who smiled back. She lowered her gaze, she wanted to end that conversation as quickly as possible, but Brynn seemed eager to talk to her.
"How did you two meet?" Jen asked. It was an obvious, easy to deal with question.
"We met during a lunch break. I was eating a couple of cheese sandwiches in the diner across the street from the evidence lab, and next thing I know, Alexander Drake himself is sitting next to me, asking me for my name. I was so honored!" Brynn answered, her eyes gleaming, but looking in the wrong direction. Jen smiled politely. Brynn was lying, but it didn't seem right to point it out. Maybe if she stayed friends with Brynn she could find out how things were going between them.
"You'll have to make up a more romantic story, that one is pretty lame," she joked. Brynn giggled. Her laugh suited her very well, as far as Jen was concerned. Brynn sounded like Elmo, and that suited her Barbie doll general look perfectly. However, there was something wrong with Brynn. She gave innocent looks in every direction, but her 'aura' (Jen didn't know any other word that fit) proved her surface wasn't genuine. As if she was hiding something, and was happy to be getting away with it.
"So, are you two serious?" Jen asked. It was another obvious question. She saw Brynn's eyes gleam with triumph, as if she had just asked the right question.
"We are not 'meet my parents' serious, but we are steady," she said in a normal voice. The sides of her mouth twitched, as if she was suppressing a smile. Jen didn't like it, but gave a forced smile. "Can I ask you something?" Brynn said. Jen nodded, her fake smile covering her sudden annoyance towards that Barbie doll/Elmo crossover. She had the feeling Brynn was about to break something big over her head. "Was he that good in bed when he was with you?" she asked, finally letting a cruel smile spread across her face. Jen lowered her face, fighting back tears of anger and sudden pain. She tied her shoes tightly, just to avoid Brynn's stare. She finished getting dressed, Brynn still looking at her with her cruel smile.
//So you are not just blonde and stupid, you are also cruel//, Jen thought.
"We never.you know.did it," she admitted, looking at Brynn's face while she walked towards the door. Brynn's smile grew bigger at that.
"Really? Why was that?" she asked. Jen looked at her angrily.
"Because he did plan to marry me," she concluded and walked away.
So Alex had slept with Brynn. She thought it was possible to believe she wasn't lying about that. He had never, not ever, touched her with passion, with lust. He had touched her and kissed her with love, and had said beautiful, loving things in her ear, but he had never talked dirty to her. He had never acted as if he wanted her sexually.
But she had wanted him. She had dreamt about him every night, as she was doing now. Dreams where Alex made her feel things she had never felt before. She had dreamt about him more often than she cared to admit while they were together; more often than she wanted while she was in the past, and way too often now she was back, and understanding what had happened to her.
She hadn't loved Wes. She had never loved Wes. She loved Alex, she had always and she always would.
But she had lost him, and now Alex treated her with a coldness that was painful. His cold shoulders, his angry eyes and the casual humiliation he put her through hurt as if he kept stabbing her with a red hot knife.
The only thing that had hurt more than that was the kiss. He had kissed that woman where she could see them, knowing that he was breaking her will and her heart. He had had to know, it had had to be intentional.
She headed for her apartment, another torture place.
Her apartment building was right next to Alex's. Their apartments were on the same floor, both had floor to ceiling windows in both apartments, her bedroom window facing his bedroom window. It was torture, he walked around half naked, showing her what she was missing and showing her what she wasn't wrapping her arms around.
When she got home, she made herself some tea; the tears had finally stopped. She went to her bedroom and the cup fell from her hands at the sight that greeted her. It shattered, but Jen didn't notice.
Alex was in his bedroom, he was kissing Brynn's body the way Jen had always dreamt he would kiss hers. Alex's curtains weren't thick, and the bedroom light was on. She could see their silhouettes through the curtains. And then, her imagination started playing with her, she could hear their words, whispered into each other's ears.
//Alex, like that--//
//You like it?//
//Yes! Yes, I do!!//
Jen ran to her window and closed the curtains, falling to her knees in her misery. She punched the floor with her clenched fist, feeling anger, deception, misery and impotence, all at once.
"No!" she yelled, hitting the floor again. "No! No, no, no, no." Her angry cries turned into whimpers, as if she was begging someone to tell her it wasn't true. She was begging no one specifically (God? Perhaps) that Alex wasn't in his bedroom making love to his new girlfriend. She was just begging. Hopelessly. "Please, no," she begged again. "Not that, not there, not where I can see them. Not her. Not her! ME!" she yelled, wrapping her arms around herself. "Me, me, oh, please, love me, Alex. Love me! I'll do anything, anything," she begged, behind the curtains where she couldn't be seen, or heard.
Alex threw a quick glance towards the window. He suddenly had the thought that Jen was jealous (and miserable, but he obviated that part), he smirked and kissed Brynn some more, even if Jen wasn't seeing it; this girl deserved a prize for her talent.
Jen crawled to her bed and looked for her little treasure under it. One of Alex's shirts that she had managed to keep, with his smell and his faint presence. She pressed it tight against her trembling chest as she cried. She caressed it with her cheek, lovingly.
"I love you, Alex." she whispered, half asleep.
Lying on her bed, she cried herself to sleep.
It was that night she discovered she could do something most humans couldn't: she could control her subconscious, and therefore, her dreams.
To be continued.
Author's note: here I'm assuming Jen and the other have been back for quite some time, about two years. As you will notice, Jen has realized she loves Alex, and wishes to have him back. I don't want to write how that happened, so I'll just assume it already happened, ok? And Alex is still a bit mad at her, he loves her, but the man's got to protect his pride, right? ; ) Very Special thanks to Cmar, for being my Beta Reader, you are the best, girl! (
Let Me Sleep.
By: Shirley Chong.
"Who's that?!" Jen asked, pointing at a voluptuous blonde woman, who was sitting with Alex in the Time Force cafeteria, holding his hand.
"Oh, that's Brynn," Katie said with a smile. "You know, Alex's new girlfriend," she added, looking at Jen's face with a playful gleam in her green eyes.
"It's impossible that woman is Alex's girlfriend," Jen said, not taking her eyes off Brynn. Katie sensed a little hostility in her friend's voice.
"Why's that?" Katie asked with a fake innocent tone of voice, taking a sip of her drink. The smile on her face was playful; unless she was very much mistaken Jen was jealous.
"She's blonde," Jen said, her face showing what seemed to be disgust.
"And?" Katie asked; she was enjoying Jen's face.
"Alex is not into blondes. And look at her, she has 'stupid' written all over her, with that bimbo, Barbie doll body. She's not dating Alex," Jen said matter-of-factly, looking at Katie.
"She's not? Are we sure?" Katie insisted. Jen finally looked at her.
"Of course. I know Alex, he would never date--" she shut up suddenly, her lower lip trembling. Alex was kissing that woman as if he wanted to suck her internal organs through her mouth. She found herself thinking he had never kissed her like that, so deeply and lustily, and publicly. Katie turned around and saw the scene with an amazed expression. She turned to see Jen and saw her friend's eyes were tearful.
"Jen?" Katie asked, no longer playfully, touching her friend's wrist across the table. Jen, who had been staring at the couple as if hypnotized, gave a start at the touch, and looked at her.
"Yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm not jealous at all," It was an obvious lie, her voice was broken, but her expression was dignified. She got up shaking her head slightly, as if trying to shake the image of Alex making out with that woman. "I'm late for my workout. I'll see you later," she said and walked away. Katie looked at her, puzzled.
*********
Alex had a new girlfriend.
It hit her like a boulder, right across the cheek.
He had replaced her. With a blonde big-breasted woman.
She entered the Time Force gym locker-room and changed her clothes, her eyes producing more tears than she could hold back. She let some of them slip down her cheeks, but wiped them off fast.
She exited the locker room and walked towards a punching bag. She focused on it and started beating it with rage; honest, pure, straight from the heart rage, flamed by regret and pain. When she punched she saw the people she blamed for her misery: Alex, Wes and, of course, herself.
She was especially hard on herself.
She didn't know for how long she punched and kicked, but she didn't stop until she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily, her eyes tearful again. There was no one there to put a hand on her shoulder, to ask her if she was alright.
She was all alone.
Jen got up and walked to the showers, her body felt as if it was about to collapse. She undressed and started a shower, watching the water fall and hearing it echoing on the tiles for a little before getting into it. While she was showering she heard the locker room door open, somebody else was there. She tried not to sob; she didn't want to be asked any questions.
She wiped her face and stepped out of the shower, the silence making her believe she was alone. To her surprise, she wasn't, and the other person in the locker room was no other than Alex's new girlfriend, Brynn.
"Oh, hi," Jen said with a fake happy tone. "I thought I was alone." Brynn looked at her for a few seconds.
"You are Alex's ex-girlfriend, right?" she asked. Jen nodded, busying herself with her clothes, trying to avoid Brynn's eyes. "I saw your picture in his apartment the other day."
"He still has my picture in his apartment?" Jen asked. Brynn nodded.
"He asked me to understand, saying that you two had a close relationship, that you almost got married. He asked me not to be angry at him for admiring you, because he was proud of you and I agreed," Brynn said. Jen looked at her.
"You agreed?" she repeated in disbelief. Brynn shrugged.
"He's so handsome and amazing I really don't mind," she explained, smiling at Jen, who smiled back. She lowered her gaze, she wanted to end that conversation as quickly as possible, but Brynn seemed eager to talk to her.
"How did you two meet?" Jen asked. It was an obvious, easy to deal with question.
"We met during a lunch break. I was eating a couple of cheese sandwiches in the diner across the street from the evidence lab, and next thing I know, Alexander Drake himself is sitting next to me, asking me for my name. I was so honored!" Brynn answered, her eyes gleaming, but looking in the wrong direction. Jen smiled politely. Brynn was lying, but it didn't seem right to point it out. Maybe if she stayed friends with Brynn she could find out how things were going between them.
"You'll have to make up a more romantic story, that one is pretty lame," she joked. Brynn giggled. Her laugh suited her very well, as far as Jen was concerned. Brynn sounded like Elmo, and that suited her Barbie doll general look perfectly. However, there was something wrong with Brynn. She gave innocent looks in every direction, but her 'aura' (Jen didn't know any other word that fit) proved her surface wasn't genuine. As if she was hiding something, and was happy to be getting away with it.
"So, are you two serious?" Jen asked. It was another obvious question. She saw Brynn's eyes gleam with triumph, as if she had just asked the right question.
"We are not 'meet my parents' serious, but we are steady," she said in a normal voice. The sides of her mouth twitched, as if she was suppressing a smile. Jen didn't like it, but gave a forced smile. "Can I ask you something?" Brynn said. Jen nodded, her fake smile covering her sudden annoyance towards that Barbie doll/Elmo crossover. She had the feeling Brynn was about to break something big over her head. "Was he that good in bed when he was with you?" she asked, finally letting a cruel smile spread across her face. Jen lowered her face, fighting back tears of anger and sudden pain. She tied her shoes tightly, just to avoid Brynn's stare. She finished getting dressed, Brynn still looking at her with her cruel smile.
//So you are not just blonde and stupid, you are also cruel//, Jen thought.
"We never.you know.did it," she admitted, looking at Brynn's face while she walked towards the door. Brynn's smile grew bigger at that.
"Really? Why was that?" she asked. Jen looked at her angrily.
"Because he did plan to marry me," she concluded and walked away.
So Alex had slept with Brynn. She thought it was possible to believe she wasn't lying about that. He had never, not ever, touched her with passion, with lust. He had touched her and kissed her with love, and had said beautiful, loving things in her ear, but he had never talked dirty to her. He had never acted as if he wanted her sexually.
But she had wanted him. She had dreamt about him every night, as she was doing now. Dreams where Alex made her feel things she had never felt before. She had dreamt about him more often than she cared to admit while they were together; more often than she wanted while she was in the past, and way too often now she was back, and understanding what had happened to her.
She hadn't loved Wes. She had never loved Wes. She loved Alex, she had always and she always would.
But she had lost him, and now Alex treated her with a coldness that was painful. His cold shoulders, his angry eyes and the casual humiliation he put her through hurt as if he kept stabbing her with a red hot knife.
The only thing that had hurt more than that was the kiss. He had kissed that woman where she could see them, knowing that he was breaking her will and her heart. He had had to know, it had had to be intentional.
She headed for her apartment, another torture place.
Her apartment building was right next to Alex's. Their apartments were on the same floor, both had floor to ceiling windows in both apartments, her bedroom window facing his bedroom window. It was torture, he walked around half naked, showing her what she was missing and showing her what she wasn't wrapping her arms around.
When she got home, she made herself some tea; the tears had finally stopped. She went to her bedroom and the cup fell from her hands at the sight that greeted her. It shattered, but Jen didn't notice.
Alex was in his bedroom, he was kissing Brynn's body the way Jen had always dreamt he would kiss hers. Alex's curtains weren't thick, and the bedroom light was on. She could see their silhouettes through the curtains. And then, her imagination started playing with her, she could hear their words, whispered into each other's ears.
//Alex, like that--//
//You like it?//
//Yes! Yes, I do!!//
Jen ran to her window and closed the curtains, falling to her knees in her misery. She punched the floor with her clenched fist, feeling anger, deception, misery and impotence, all at once.
"No!" she yelled, hitting the floor again. "No! No, no, no, no." Her angry cries turned into whimpers, as if she was begging someone to tell her it wasn't true. She was begging no one specifically (God? Perhaps) that Alex wasn't in his bedroom making love to his new girlfriend. She was just begging. Hopelessly. "Please, no," she begged again. "Not that, not there, not where I can see them. Not her. Not her! ME!" she yelled, wrapping her arms around herself. "Me, me, oh, please, love me, Alex. Love me! I'll do anything, anything," she begged, behind the curtains where she couldn't be seen, or heard.
Alex threw a quick glance towards the window. He suddenly had the thought that Jen was jealous (and miserable, but he obviated that part), he smirked and kissed Brynn some more, even if Jen wasn't seeing it; this girl deserved a prize for her talent.
Jen crawled to her bed and looked for her little treasure under it. One of Alex's shirts that she had managed to keep, with his smell and his faint presence. She pressed it tight against her trembling chest as she cried. She caressed it with her cheek, lovingly.
"I love you, Alex." she whispered, half asleep.
Lying on her bed, she cried herself to sleep.
It was that night she discovered she could do something most humans couldn't: she could control her subconscious, and therefore, her dreams.
To be continued.