The road not taken...
Disclaimer: none of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™.
Once upon a time, professor Cutter was sitting at his home, sorting through his mail, when there was a knock on a window. "Who is it?" Nick called-out grouchily, expecting it to be Stephen, or possibly Abby or Connor.
"It's me," Helen, Nick's estranged (and time-travelling wife) waved a self-made white flag in a nonchalant gesture. "You want to talk?"
"To you? No," Nick said curtly. "Whatever crazy scheme you've come up with, I'm not interested."
"This isn't a scheme," Helen said, trying to disguise the fact that Nick's words had scored a hit, "I want to tell you while Jenny isn't Claudia anymore, but if you're not interested-"
"I am!" Nick almost shouted, before he caught himself. "I am, but how do I know that this isn't another trick of yours?"
"Why should I trick you?" Helen asked, with clear bitterness. "Travelling through other times made me miss other people. Talking to you, reminded me why I left – because I couldn't stand you, among other reasons."
"Oh, so it's my fault?"
"What part of among other reasons didn't you understand? Ugh, never mind, talking to you is like talking to a rock," Helen said with disgust. "Forget it, I shouldn't have tried this-"
"No, no," Nick quickly climbed out of the window, and followed his wife. "I'm sorry, what were you going to tell me about Jenny and Claudia?"
"Jonas Lewis," Helen said curtly, still clearly upset about Nick's accusation.
Nick blinked. "Who's he?"
"The granduncle of both Jenny and Claudia and the key pivot in the explanation why Claudia became Jenny," Helen looked slightly uncomfortable now. "You know, this may not be such a good idea to talk about this without the woman in question – after all it is about her family..."
"Then what's the problem? It's what? Seven in the morning? A quarter to eight? I'm due to arrive at the Center in about an hour, and so will Jenny – I mean Ms. Lewis. Let's go and talk to her."
Helen narrowed her eyes. On one hand, the prospect of spending more time than absolutely necessary with Nick was simply unappealing; on the other there was a possibility of running into Stephen...
"Deal!" she said firmly. "But you're driving – my driving skills became somewhat rusty."
Nick just shook his head.
Jenny Lewis was having second thoughts about her job at the ARC. The pay wasn't particularly good, and Nick Cutter – though handsome in a certain way – appeared to be several threads short of a kilt. Plus their boss – one James Lester – wasn't exactly such a prize either, and...
"Excuse me, Ms. Lewis?" a female voice – one that didn't belong to Cutter's blonde protégé – sounded from behind Jenny, startling her.
"Yes," she said carefully, turning around and seeing a female stranger of approximately her age or older. "Who is asking?"
"I'm Helen Cutter," the woman said, still politely. "I'm Nick's wife."
Jenny twitched. A vision of a catfight entered her mind for some reason, and the thoughts of a scandal reaching the ears of her fiancé and his mother came unbidden as well. "Mrs. Cutter," she said firmly, "I don't know what your husband has been telling you, but I'm not Claudia Brown!"
"I know," Helen said kindly, "and I can tell you why you are not."
Jenny blinked. "Excuse me?" she said incredulously. "Why am I not Claudia Brown? Why?"
"It's because of your grandmother's brother, Jonas," Helen replied, unshaken. "Now you want to sit down?"
Jenny sat.
"So," Nick asked Helen as he appeared from behind Jenny, startling her again, "who is that man?"
"My grandmother's brother," Jenny said bitterly. "When he was a young man, he suffered a breakdown and had to be interred in a mental ward. Apparently, there was a lot of trouble both with him and because of him, so..." she trailed away as something of an understanding began to appear on Nick Cutter's face.
"Anyways, that's in this universe – let's call it the J-universe," Helen said flatly. "In another universe your granduncle found a time anomaly and went through it. He had his mental breakdown on the other side of it and eventually died without bringing shame on your family. This had impact on your family, naturally, resulting in a C-universe, where you were Claudia Brown, somewhat less confident than you currently are...and also blonde."
Jenny twitched and looked from Helen to Nick, who tried to look guilty, innocent and sheepish at the same time. "You people are messed up!" she finally exclaimed. "I'm not Claudia! I'm myself! Jenny! I got my own life, identity and, and, stuff! Can't you understand that?"
"I think so," Helen said quietly, as an enigmatic look came briefly over her face. "Well, I'm off."
"Don't you need to have James Lester's approval?" Jenny asked, confused.
"Oh, I don't work here, fortunately," Helen replied, almost cheerfully.
"Well why not? Isn't working with Cutter, I mean-"
"I know what you mean, and nowadays, me and him under the same roof for more than an hour or two is just not working," Helen said curtly. "We can't stand each other, it seems."
"But... aren't you married?" Jenny asked, fascinated despite herself.
"We are," Helen said bitterly, "more correctly, we were married for almost two decades. Two decades for our love feelings to die." She fixed Jenny with a stare. "If you ever get married, Ms. Lewis, try to have some children – they may make all the difference."
Jenny blinked, and tried to get some thoughts of hers in order. "Two decades?" she managed.
"Married as university students," Helen explained, even as she turned to leave. "Have a nice day." And she was gone.
Silently, Jenny looked at Nick. "I think I should be getting to my office as well," Nick said quickly and left as well, leaving Jenny alone with her own thoughts...
TBC