Chapter 1

Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™.

Note: spoilers for the original series.

Vancouver, British Columbia (modern times)

The time anomaly snapped shut without any sound, and the two time travellers found themselves on the right side of it, at least at the first glance, as the abandoned warehouse remained the same, and the soldier in the uniform remained the same. "You okay, sir?" he asked Evan (and Dylan) with some concern in his voice.

"Yes," Evan curtly replied as he got up and helped Dylan get onto her feet as well.

"And where's your companion?" the soldier decided to press his luck by asking another question.

"That," Evan began but did not finish, as with a clicking of footwear, Angelika Finch emerged from behind the soldier.

"Evan," she said in a vocal tone that was different from the ones that Dylan had heard in their earlier interactions, "we need to talk."

"Ange, not now," Evan warily replied – he too realized that something was not right here and it was not directly related to the time anomalies for a change, but Angelika did not listen.

"Evan," she looked upwards to look straight into the eyes of the taller person. "Earlier I had an enlightening talk with your bearded friend with the British accent."

"Ange," Evan began to move slightly backwards – probably to get himself more room for manoeuvring; "would you believe me if I told you that I've seen that bloke for the second time in my life myself?"

"That makes the two of us," Ange smiled, and that smile was nasty. "I've probably met him just as you did, six months ago; only I thought that he was an Internet repairman."

"Your point?" Dylan carefully asked.

"My point," Ange ignored the other woman and continued to look at Evan, "is that all of this hoopla, all of your rules, all of your protocol, Evan Cross, has been apparently based on advice of perfect stranger, whom you've met before just once in your life. Do you remember, Evan, what happens when you follow others? You get suspended and made into a prop by Reza, and Felix, and your other so-called friends from school – remember them?"

"This is different," Evan muttered, his face pale.

"Is it?" Angelika spat out the words. "Whenever you try to follow yourself, your own dreams, Evan Cross, you actually make yourself into someone, into a man; when you follow others; you become once more the weak-willed, easily impressionable boy that thought that to throw things at me and Brooke-"

"Leave Brooke out of this-"

"No. I will not. You started this whole train wreck of a mess supposedly because of her, yet even in your grief you had to follow a person you have never seen before in your life. Evan Cross, you are inconsistent and weak and obstinate. You don't want to follow Hall's lead, but you followed a perfect stranger's? That is not leadership, Evan, and you know it."

"Um, can we have this talk somewhere else?" Dylan said timidly: Ange was flushed with anger while Evan was pale from some other emotion, and both were sweating for other reasons than this being a windless and hot summer day. "Please?"

"I second that," Lt. Ken Leeds appeared from behind Ange and the other two soldiers. "Colonel Hall is still alive but has been hospitalized and we need to go back to brief Ms. Nance – where's Mr. Randall?"

Silence fell and later Dylan would swear that she almost heard something teetering on an edge of a crash – right before she opened her mouth and made it worse. "He's gone," she said hollowly.

Angelika shifted around and looked Dylan right in the eye. Now, Dylan was a hothead, and the Weir family was a family of hotheads, so Dylan was used to people being angry with her – or so she thought. The cold fury, possibly mixed with disdain, which radiated from the shorter woman's eyes, was something else.

"How did it happen?" Angelika said, and though Dylan wanted to give her an edited version of the events, what she said was something else.

"Mac...Mac had already gone back in time – sort of. An alternate version of him has come through a time anomaly six years ago and saved Evan from the Albertosaurus, dying in the process. Now, because it was predestinate or something like that, he did the same thing to save the entire time continuum-"

"Did Evan tell you this? Did his British friend tell you this?"

"No, Evan figured it out himself."

"No," Evan whispered quietly. "This man – I think his name was Kieran or Connor – he told me that when we first met...just in not so many words..." he trailed off.

"Ms Weir and gentlemen, I give you Evan Cross," Angelika Finch said bitterly. "He had a half-baked idea of his own, mixed it with some advice of a man who only cared about his own family life and would do anything to accomplish this goal, screwing anyone else in the process, and to top it off, Evan Cross wouldn't even someone professional be in charge, like Ms. Weir, for example-"

"That's unfair, I specialize in modern animals, not prehistoric-"

"And Evan doesn't do even that – by his standards, you're more than adequate." Angelika shifted back to Evan. "Evan Cross, we're through. When you married Brooke, and when Brooke later died, you swore to me that you will be a better man from now on. You lied, and you know what? We are through. Do whatever you want, whatever you please. I'm done."

Angelika turned around, and then she paused. "One more thing," she turned back around. "Ms. Weir, contrary to what Evan here thinks, this isn't ancient Greece or Mesopotamia or Rome, or wherever where people believed that their lives and fates were determined before their births. We make our own lives, our own destinies, and the space-time continuum can go fuck itself, just as all of those smug, know-it-all Brits!" With that parting shot she turned around and walked away, leaving behind her a very loud silence.

"So, um, thank you for saving me from the dinosaur," Ken Leeds said weakly, "and, uh, are we going to be fighting now?"

"Er," Dylan looked at Evan. The latter was just standing there, looking blank. "No. Can you get us to Toby instead, though? We need to tell her about Mac and all." She paused and added. "Please?"

"Certainly," Ken Leeds nodded, before glancing at Evan himself. "Er, Mr. Cross appears to have gone into shock."

Both Dylan and Leeds looked at the taller man, who just stood there, staring blankly at nothing particular. "You know, you're right," Dylan said softly. "But still, can you get us to Toby?"

"Certainly."

TBC