Disclaimer: Do not own
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
"You're acting very peculiarly," Chloe muttered as she eyed Peter out of the corner of her eye. Ever since the Alt!Universe thing he'd been acting weird, and while she wanted to give him time to come clean and tell her what in the world was bothering him, she was quickly beginning to lose her patience. "Is something amiss?"
Anne, the version of her from the alt!universe who'd gotten stuck in theirs, mouthed the word 'Amiss' teasingly.
"Shut up." Despite her pout, Chloe could feel the smile tugging at her own lips. While it was odd to have another 'her' around, this other version of her was similar enough for them to get along, and different enough to be fascinating. It was completely baffling to see just how different she could've been from how she was now. There was a version of her who didn't need a bonder, a translator. There was a version of her who had a happy life working at the Daily Planet, and helping save the world with super heroes. That was awing.
"I'm just getting used to Anne's hair." Peter shifted in the seat and eyed Chloe's double with a raised eyebrow. "Dark auburn is an interesting choice for you." He leaned towards Chloe and stage whispered: "You look better blonde."
Anne gasped in mock hurt as she brought her hand to her chest. With the other she flipped Peter off.
He grinned brightly and laughed as he glanced over at Chloe.
Chloe didn't share the smile. She just observed him, her over-analytical mind picking up the tension at the corner of his lips, and the way that the smile didn't reach his eyes. He was pretending things were fine and that he was in a good mood, when in truth something was very off with him. He was incredibly tense, and if the slight tick in his cheek had anything to say about it, he was very annoyed as well. But why? And with whom? It wasn't with her or Anne, his reactions to them were genuine. And even though Jared got on Peter's nerves it wasn't him either. So what was going on?
"Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!" Jared arrived with a large grin. "I got caught up with an old friend I bumped into, and I invited him to come join us."
"I told him it was rude to bring me along without asking you all first, so I apologize on his behalf," the guy declared with an easy smile as he came up behind Jared.
Chloe froze when she saw him. She knew him. Even if he didn't realize that she did. She'd gone over his file enough times that she could recite his life story back to him. How had she not realized that he was friends with Jared?
"We're used to Jared having no manners," Anne assured the newcomer with a grin as she motioned him and Jared to move into the booth next to her. "I'm Anne Gibbs, this is my sister, Chloe, and the guy who looks like a human Grumpy Cat is Peter."
"Nice to meet you all," the man declared as he shook Anne's hand and then Peter before reaching it out to Chloe. "I'm Lincoln Lee."
"He's FBI," Jared informed them in a cheeky tone. "So basically, he's another Seeley."
"I'm not another Seeley," Lincoln muttered with a sigh, as if this was something he'd had to defend himself of being for far too long now. "I'm my very own human being, thank you very much."
"Do I know you?" Peter asked in an odd tone. "I have this vague feeling that I've seen you somewhere before."
"I don't think we've met," Lincoln decided after a moment's thought as he examined Peter. "I always remember faces." He then finally grasped Chloe's hand in a shake and blinked as he turned his attention fully on her. "You're freezing."
She mustn't have been been blinking up until that point, because when she did blink she found her eyes dry and itchy. "Oh, yeah, my apologies, I always forget to bring gloves."
"Here." Lincoln reached into his pocket and pulled out some which were far too large for her, clearly his own. "I keep a spare in my car in case I lose these."
Chloe looked up from the gloves she received instinctively, shock racing through her system. "Uh, I couldn't—."
"Please, you're freezing." Lincoln looked a little concerned as he shoved his hands into his jacket's pockets and slid into the booth next to Jared and Anne. "So, what are we having tonight?"
"We're actually waiting on someone," Peter informed Lincoln with a small smile. "He's a… friend… of mine."
It was only Peter's weirdness that yanked her out of her revere. She pulled on Lincoln Lee's oversized wool gloves and a shock of pleasure rippled through her body as warmth blanketed her cold hands. "He's an enigma." It was only when their gazes turned to her that she realized she'd said that out loud. She could feel the pink in her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around her upper torso. "Peter's been very closed-mouth about this 'friend' of his, not that he's very talky about his friends at all, but he's much more quiet about this one," she explained to Lincoln Lee. "I don't know anything about him. Not even a name. He's an enigma."
"Ah," Lincoln nodded in understanding.
"Sorry I'm late!" A new voice declared as a blonde male hurried towards them. His accent triggered her mind's analytical process immediately, and as she studied him her mind quickly decided he was from Minnesota or some state close by. He was young, close to her age, and something about his stance said he was in law. She'd seen that stance too many times by those around her so it was easy to pick up.
"Guys!" Peter stood, a much too large smile on his face. "This is a friend of mine, uh, Brice, uh Graham?"
"Why do you sound as if you're asking him?" Chloe asked in confusion as she stared between Brice and Peter, trying to figure out how Peter could've befriended someone who was clearly law enforcement. Given everything she knew about Peter's past (or, at least, given what she knew about his rap sheet) she doubted it made for befriending the lawmen he'd met.
"Asking him?" Peter laughed. "Don't be ridiculous. Brice and I go back way back." He slapped Brice's back so hard the younger male nearly collided with the table. "Right? Brice?"
"Uh, yeah, right." Brice gave a large, flinching smile.
Chloe's eyebrows nearly touched in a confused frown, which she turned on the others on the other side of the booth. Anne and Jared were merely smiling up at Brice, maybe a little too brightly. It would appear that Lincoln was the only one who seemed questioning.
"That's Anne, Jared, Lincoln, and this is Chloe." Peter motioned to her. "Why don't you just slide on in there and we can get to ordering. We're all hungry."
Brice scooted into the booth between Chloe and Peter, and turned to her with a smile. "So, what's it like being a twin?"
Very good question. "I'm still not used to someone else walking around with my face."
"That should be my line!" Anne mock gasped.
Brice sent Anne a grin. "So, is it true what they say about twins?"
"What about them?" Anne asked as she played with the straw in her glass of coke.
"You know, that if one feels pain or pleasure, that the other will as well," Brice replied.
Chloe's eyes winded and turned to catch Anne's surprised gaze. That was actually a very good question! Not twin wise of course, but did being the same person from 2 different realities connect them in some way? Were phantom aches and pains actually due to injuries being inflicted on a different version of oneself?
Similar questions visibly played on Anne's eyes, but she played it cool with a small smile as she turned her attention back on Brice. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's secret twin knowledge."
He chuckled and got comfortable, and when Chloe said he got comfortable, she meant that he shifted so that his thighs were spread open, and his arms rested on the back of the booth.
Almost instinctively, Chloe pressed against the wall and the table. Ever since Lionel's violent initiation Chloe hadn't found it easy to let people touch her, especially not men, and in unexpected situations. Discomfort filled her as she pulled away as much as she could without making it obvious.
Apparently she was doing a great job of it, because Brice was talking animatedly with Anne, seeming not at all to notice Chloe's discomfort. Chloe's gaze shifted from Anne to Jared, to find him sharing an odd yet obviously meaningful look with Peter. His eyes clearly showed he thought something was annoying him, and his snort backed that up.
Brice barked laughter at something Anne said, the sound loud and jarring. Not only that, but there was something about his smell that she just didn't like. It wasn't stink, he wasn't stink, but his scent made her nose twitch and her stomach coil.
She glanced over towards Peter but couldn't see him over Brice's body. Desperation bubbled inside of her and she found it suddenly hard to breathe.
Peter's phone rang and he answered it and left the table without excusing himself.
Nausea battled with the tightness in her chest as she gripped the ends of the table tightly.
Jared suddenly stood. "Chloe, come with me a second please. Dude. Get up and move. Now."
Brice stood and immediately got out of the booth, and Chloe slid out after him, only too happy to get out of there. Brice immediately slid back in and began conversing with Anne once more, a large grin on his face.
Chloe held a hand to her chest and was grateful Jared didn't try to touch her as he motioned her around the corner and then out of the place. The second the cold wind hit her, Chloe took off around the corner and into the alleyway, where she doubled over, collapsed on her knees, and began to vomit. She hadn't realized just how sick she'd gotten so quickly, and couldn't understand it.
"I knew it," Jared whispered under his voice as he bent to his knees next to her. "It's the guy, huh?"
"I don't know why though," she whispered as she clutched at her stomach. "I've never had this sort of reaction to a stranger before." She closed her eyes in worry. "What if something's wrong with me? … Wronger."
"Is she okay?" Lincoln asked from behind them. "Anne sent me to—. Here."
Her eyes were closed tightly in mortification that a stranger had seen her this low, that was why she jolted in surprise when she felt something touch her lips. It was soft. She opened her eyes to see he was wiping her mouth with a Kleenex.
A thick, choked laugh escaped her lips as she turned to look at him, her fingers curling around the Kleenex as she finished the job. "You keep Kleenex around too?"
"I get into scrapes," Lincoln replied with a sheepish smile and shrug.
Chloe returned the small smile with one of her own as she finished wiping up and stood up. "I'm mortified."
"Please, I'm used to taking care of people, just don't tell my dad I said that," Lincoln declared as he stood as well. "You'll have to tell me if you tried anything at the diner though… so I know not to order it."
She laughed and shook her head. "No. I'm just a weirdo."
"So's he but I still hang around him," Lincoln motioned with his thumb to Jared.
"Hey!" Jared cried out in insult.
Chloe smiled brighter, feeling much better now.
"You feeling better?" Jared asked her, and when she nodded he grinned. "Lets go back inside before we freeze."
The three of them shared a little smile, but that smile disappeared the seconds they walked into the diner to find everything silenced. The lights were on, the people were there, but they were frozen in place like wax statues.
"Sir?" Lincoln reached out his hand and shook one of the waiters to no reaction. "What is happening?" He rose his sleeve to cover his nose. "Is this some sort a chemical attack?"
Chloe took in a deep breath. "Jared?"
"Already calling the Director," Jared replied as he turned around and went to the door, only to find it locked. "Uh, Chloe?"
The blonde turned to face the door in time to see it icing over. "Interesting."
"What the hell is happening here?" Lincoln asked in confusion.
"There's no signal," Jared announced as he hung up the call he'd been trying to make.
Taking in the situation, Chloe squared her shoulders and she turned to Lincoln. "Congratulations."
"For what?" He asked in confusion.
Her eyes met his and held. "Whatever your clearance level is, it's just been bumped up very high."
"You don't really expect me to believe that, do you?" Lincoln Lee asked as he helped Jared back a frozen Peter (who'd been talking on the phone when he'd gone still) to where Anne and Brice were frozen in mid sentence, Brice looking far more interested in the conversation than Anne did.
"What could you possibly come up with to explain what's going on right now?" Jared wanted to know as they deposited Peter back onto his feet at the edge of the table. "And if you go with gas or chemical again I'm going to pick Brice up and whack you with him."
"Magic though?" Lincoln made up his face. "I feel like this is an elaborate joke you're pulling on me." He glanced around as he pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. "Are there hidden cameras around? Am I being Punk'd?"
Jared ignored that and turned to Chloe. "So? What'ya got?"
Chloe finally looked up from where she'd been seated crossed-legged on the table, just eyeing Anne and Brice. She'd gone over every single person in the restaurant, had checked the faucets, the fire in the stove, everything. It was all suspended in time. "Do you know how many things could cause temporal anomalies?"
"No, that's why I asked," Jared responded as he placed his hands on his hips.
"Well, there are many, and contrary to what you think, I don't know every one of them." She then paused because that was actually a lie. "Well, I mean, I know every one of them, but knowing what I know is impossible to know, you know?"
"I never know," he assured her.
Blowing a blonde strand of hair out of her face, Chloe turned completely to face them, and was momentarily distracted by Peter's still figure. It hurt to see him like that, but she pushed him out of her mind right now. She couldn't be distracted. She needed to be fully focused if she wanted to find a way to reverse whatever had happened. "This could be a repercussion of a temporal transgression which could've originated when not only temporal incursion and simultaneous displacement transpired, but temporal trespassing turned into prolonged temporal squatting."
Jared stared at her with a fearful expression on his face.
"Wait." Lincoln's eyes were narrowed and fixed on her in utter perplexity. "What are you saying?"
"I have no clue," Jared whispered, his voice panicked. "Peter usually—."
Lincoln waved him off and moved closer to Chloe. "Are you telling me this has to do with time travel? That someone is displaced in time?"
Jared turned to look at him in shock.
So did Chloe. "Not exactly, but very close! Timeline. Or reality."
Lincoln's glasses slid down the bridge of his nose. "You're saying someone from a different reality is in ours and that could be creating some sort of temporal repercussion because of that person's extended stay in a timeline which isn't their own?"
Chloe grinned. "Yes! That is what I am saying! Gold star!"
"How the hell did you get that?" Jared wanted to know, sounding both shocked and amazed.
Lincoln looked at him a second before returning his attention to Chloe. "Who?"
She cleared her throat. "I don't have a twin."
Immediately Lincoln's eyes widened as he turned to Anne. His lips parted and he pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Oh. Wow." He let out a stuttered laugh. "You're right… my clearance level has got to be through the roof right now!"
Chloe nodded her agreement to that before she made a face. "But it doesn't make sense."
"What doesn't?" Jared wanted to know.
"Why would the temporal anomaly affect this diner? Why now? Why let us in at all?" Chloe glanced between the two of them. "By all right we shouldn't have been able to open the door in the first place, not if inside was already affected. This area would've become separate, hidden, frozen or displaced in time. Either way, it should definitely have been inaccessible."
"The door locking behind us afterwards seems more like something planned, than really bad timing." Lincoln agreed as he glanced around them. "How sure are we that this isn't a trap?"
"Set by who?" Jared wanted to know. "And for what?"
"We don't," Chloe answered Lincoln's question before she answered Jared's. "That's what we're going to find out." She pushed off of the table and landed on her feet, stretching. She let her hand fall on Peter's arm, and squeezed it tightly before she walked passed Jared and Lincoln towards the front of the diner. On the way she stole a knife off of a table.
"Wait, wait, what's with the knife?" Jared was on her heels in seconds. "If you get hurt while under my watch Peter is going to have my balls, okay? I haven't had kids yet. I need these balls."
"Noted," Chloe muttered as she shifted her hold on the knife and slammed it into the glass, imbedding it an inch into the ice. It wouldn't move no matter how hard she tried so she left it in there and stepped back and brought her hands to her temples as her mind began to access the many archives deep within her. She closed her eyes to try and help with the process, deciding to just look for the first symbol, and when it came to her she immediately projected it mentally onto the wall. No one else would see it, but she mentally made it big enough for her to be able to trace.
But the trouble was that even with both hands on the handle of the knife, and using her body weight to her advantage, she couldn't get the knife to move.
A hand covered hers, and she looked up in shock to find Lincoln there. "Let me."
"But you wont know what to carve."
Jared looked around him. "There's got to be pen and paper around here somewhere." And with that he shot away.
"Draw the symbol on the ice with your finger," Lincoln instructed her. "It should leave enough of an impression for me to follow."
Pulling off the gloves he'd given her, Chloe licked her finger and traced the symbol only she could see. Lincoln gripped the knife with both hands and somehow managed to follow her design with the blade, finishing the first symbol. By then Chloe had summoned up the second symbol and was ready to trace it with her finger.
Suddenly the lights went out all over, leaving them in darkness.
"Shit," Chloe whispered.
"Reach into my jacket's pocket and pull out my phone, we can use the light on it to continue," Lincoln announced as he finished the last section of the symbol. "What are we doing, anyway?"
"A spell," she informed him as she reached into his pockets and pulled out his phone, switching on the light.
"A what now?"
"A spell." She glanced up at him as she turned on the light function and realized that there would be a little issue. "Uhm, uh," she cleared her throat. "I'm going to have to get in here and hold the light with one hand while using the other to draw the symbol."
"Okay." He bowed his arms out and allowed her to awkwardly step in between them. "So, are you a witch then?"
She laughed. "Of course not!"
"But, uh, spell."
"Oh." She positioned the phone in a way that shadows would not mess things up, and then licked her fingertip, which she used to begin drawing the next symbol. "I'm the Adept."
"Yes, you do seemed versed in these things."
She laughed. "No, not an Adept, the Adept. As in the only Adept."
"Is this like a Slayer?"
Her grin grew and she couldn't help but twist slightly to look up at his shadow-covered face. "Not in the least bit."
He smiled down at her. "I don't know, you're talking about alternate realities, spells, and I'm almost sure that Jared mentioned something about monsters… which you fight." He made a face. "That sounds like Slayer territory to me."
"Well you obviously don't know territory," she informed him with a chuckle as she turned back to continue her job.
"Clearly."
They worked side by side, creating the twenty nine lined series of symbols until finally the last one was finished, and when Lincoln yanked the blade out after finishing the last one, the whole sequence lit up brilliantly. Chloe and Lincoln shared awed expressions as it glowed brightly.
"What happens now?" Lincoln wanted to know.
Chloe passed him back his phone and pressed a hand to her head, which by now was throbbing from the amount of information she'd forced out. "It already happened." When Lincoln turned to her in confusion she explained: "That enchantment reacts if there's magic around."
"So the fact that it's glowing like a hundred roman candles proves that this isn't a consequence of Anne being stuck in your timeline, but the effects of a spell." Lincoln took a couple of pictures of the glowing sigils before he put his phone away and pulled out a gun she hadn't even realized he was carrying. "Something's in here with us."
"You don't know that." Chloe kept her hand pressed against her temple. "Whoever is behind this could be outside of this place and could be keeping us trapped."
"True," he agreed. "But if so, why hasn't Jared come back?"
Her eyes widened as her hand dropped from her head. He was right. Jared had gone to look for a pen and paper ages ago. It'd taken them a while to finish the spell, there was no way it would've taken him this long to go all around the diner. Something must've happened to him when he'd left them. "Oh no."
In seconds she reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and turned back on the flashlight. "I broke my phone, Peter and I were going to go shopping for one after this," she explained as she aimed the light all around only to freeze. "Lincoln?"
"I know." His voice was just as shaken as hers.
Somehow, while they'd been busy carving the spell into the ice, every single person in the diner had disappeared.
"I might be new to all of this, but I believe I can say with a hundred percent certainty that I hate magic," Lincoln announced as they slowly made their way throughout the dark, empty diner.
"It's not all that bad," Chloe whispered, and when he gave her a look she shrugged. She was lamenting leaving her bag at the table because it not only had her own gun, and mace, and taser, but it had disappeared with every one else. "Current situation not included, of course."
Lincoln was about to comment on that when he paused and turned his head. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Chloe asked, and then she heard it too. There were soft voices coming from the women's bathroom. She motioned with her head towards the bathroom but Lincoln was already on it, which she was grateful for because the headache that'd she'd been suffering from for a while now was getting to an incredible strength.
Lincoln paused at the door, eyed her, and then kicked the swinging door in as he hurried inside with his gun drawn. "FREEZE!"
Chloe followed in two seconds after him, shining the flashlight, and when she stepped through the door the lights were back on and she froze just as frozen as the woman and child in the bathroom here. "Oh my god."
"There's another one?" Lincoln turned to her. "Why didn't you tell me there was another one?"
"I didn't know there was another one!" Chloe squeaked as she stared over at… herself.
This version of herself looked more mature, but that could be because of the three year old boy clutching to her in terror.
"Look," the other her spoke as calmly as she could, clearly trying not to scare the boy more. "I don't know what you want, but I will not let you metahuman shift yourself into my world. This is my son. This is my family, and I don't care if it is two against one, I will kill you before you touch him or me."
"Huh?" Lincoln then realized he was still pointing the gun and lowered it, before he paused. "Are shapeshifters a thing? Is she a shapeshifter? Should I still be pointing the gun at her?"
Chloe merely stared at the other version of her before looking around the bathroom. "No. She's me." She took in a deep breath. "We're not in our dimension anymore. You wouldn't know it because you've never been in the women's bathroom here before, but there are definitely differences."
"Oh." Lincoln nodded, before the weight of her words caught up and his eyes widened behind his glasses. "What? We jumped realities? But there were no rituals like when you said you met Anne!"
"Who is Anne?" The Chloe from this universe asked, still wary, but less hostile.
"The us from a reality where we're vigilantes helping super heroes called the Justice League of America," Chloe responded. "I don't exactly do that in my reality. I… I'm what you called the Adept."
Alt!Chloe's eyes widened. "The Adept is real?"
"You've heard of me?" Chloe mimicked her wide eyed shock.
"Well, yeah, anyone who knows their way around supernatural lore knows about the Adept." Alt!Chloe turned her attention to Lincoln. "Is he your Anchor then?"
"We call it Bonder in my world, but, uh, no, I um, I don't have a permanent one yet," Chloe explained.
"That's dangerous," Alt!Chloe declared.
"You have no clue," Chloe muttered.
"Mama?" The boy asked.
"Oh! Honey, it's alright. Um, these are, uh, friends of mommy." Alt!Chloe gathered the now confused but not scared boy to her. "This is my son, Dorian."
"I have a son." Up until this moment she'd figured this kid was someone the other her was taking care of. "How did we?" She cleared her throat. "We were young."
"We were," Alt!Chloe agreed, taking this all in stride, proving she definitely was another version of Chloe. "We were also on the run from Lionel Luthor."
Chloe felt her stomach sick. "You too?"
Alt!Chloe's eyes widened in horror. "He tried to kill you too?"
Nausea filled her as she shook her head. "He's the one who forced me to be the Adept, with him as my Bonder. When I was sixteen."
It took all of two seconds for Alt!Chloe to understand the implications, and she paled. "I'm so sorry."
"It's fine." Chloe shook her head, conscious of Lincoln's confusion next to her. "So, uhh, I've jumped before, but that was because the Lex Luthor in Anne's reality was trying to force himself as my Anchor." She shivered. "No one here is summoning the Adept, right?"
"Not that I know of," Alt!Chloe informed her. "I mean, I'm never usually in Washington. I'm here with Dean, he won this vacation and—."
"Dean?" Chloe asked in confusion.
"Dean Winchester," Alt!Chloe blushed. "He's, uh,"
"My daddy," Dorian informed her. "You look like mommy."
"I do." Chloe nodded to him with a wavering smile before she cleared her throat as another piece of information kicked in. "Wait. You're with John Winchester's son? His eldest?"
"You know John Winchester? How? And why?" Alt!Chloe now looked shocked. "Is he an asshole in your reality too?"
Chloe shrugged. "I haven't really spent too much time with him to be sure."
"I'm so lost right now," Lincoln bemoaned.
"I know." Chloe rubbed his arm. "Is Dean here? He might actually be able to help."
"Dean?" Alt!Chloe made a face and shook her head. "I don't know what his family are like in your reality, but in mine they didn't even know about metahumans, much less supernatural. I mean, I've had to tell him about metahumans because of Dorian and I, but I didn't figure it made sense to ruin his world completely by ripping it to pieces with the whole MAGIC IS REAL thing."
That was devastating, but still… "I was brought here for a reason. It might be to talk to him."
Alt!Chloe eyed her for a moment before she lifted Dorian up into her arms and nodded. "Come on. We'll take you to meet him."
Just this morning Special Agent Lincoln Lee had awoken to a normal day. He'd was usually stationed in Hartford, Connecticut, he'd arrived in DC two days ago to attend a seminar. Whenever he found himself in this neck of the woods he called Jared, and that was how a day which had started so ordinarily had ended with him somehow being sucked into an alternate reality.
They'd also clearly caused issues for the Chloe of this reality and her boyfriend, who'd been less than happy with each other when they'd found out that the other actually knew about the supernatural.
"So Lex is evil in your universe," Dean Winchester muttered. He was taller than Lincoln's 5'11", probably around 6'1", had sandy blonde hair, hazel eyes, a sprinkling of faint freckles on his face, and looked annoyingly like an underwear model.
"Not mine, Anne's," Chloe explained. "I don't know him in my timeline." She cleared her throat. "I also don't know why I am here. In your reality. I get Anne's timeline, I was summoned in a ritual. But why are Lincoln and I here now?"
"No clue," Dean admitted. "I don't know much about The Adept, dad thought you were one of the myths which were actually only a myth." He hesitated. "But I can't help but wonder if it isn't because you're not properly anchored."
"How so?" Chloe leaned forwards against the surface of the table.
"Well, for one, the position is called "Anchor" this person is supposed to keep you grounded. Secondly, if I'm understanding you correctly, this whole reality jumping started because evil Lex was trying to force you to be anchored to him. This might be the universe's way of showing you that you and need to make your anchoring permanent."
Lincoln felt so out of his depth it was ridiculous. He didn't really get what The Adept was, or what being her Anchor really meant, but he figured The Anchor was important, and was almost completely sure that the current (but apparently temporary) Anchor was Peter.
"Wouldn't this be a bit much, though?" Chloe wanted to know. "Why not just tell me to get a permanent Bonder?"
"You already know you need a permanent Anchor," Alt!Chloe declared as she rocked Dorian on her knee. He'd been cranky, clearly needing to rest, and had fallen asleep sometime during their conversation. The little boy clutched at his mother and rested his cheek against her breast. "Maybe the universe isn't trying to tell you so much as nudge you to do what you know you should do."
"I haven't been avoiding it, it's just that I am busy, and Peter—," Chloe began.
"Those are excuses and you know it," Alt!Chloe interrupted immediately. "Nothing can be more important than getting a permanent Anchor for you. We're smart enough even without being a Compendium of knowledge to know that." She pressed a kiss to Dorian's forehead. "You're stalling. You don't want to get a permanent Anchor, and I think it's because you don't want to let Peter go."
Chloe's eyes widened and she lowered her gaze immediately to her hands. "That's not true. He—I—we went into this agreement knowing it could not be permanent due to the mental illness in his family."
Lincoln watched her, and while he didn't know Chloe well, had only met her that day, he could see just how hard she was trying to keep from crying. While there wasn't a tear in her eyes her hands clutched at her lap, her arms shook slightly, and her back was rigidly straight.
"Why not this guy?" Dean wanted to know as he motioned to Lincoln. "He's managed to stick around, and he might seem fuddy duddy but he's obviously someone you can work with."
Immediately Lincoln tensed. He didn't even understand what was going on, he wouldn't allow himself to be drawn into something which he didn't even truly understand!
"I've been looking into Lincoln for months now in regards to recruitment to the Fringe Division, and I have already promised myself that I wont Bond with anyone in my team," Chloe responded, shocking him to the core. "He displays not only the ability to work by himself, but is a team player, and has shown not only intelligence and skill, but an untapped aptitude which I want to help him harness. He's shown willingness to put the good of others before his own when he sacrificed much of his years growing up to help his father."
Lincoln just stared at her, everything coming out of her mouth shocked him more and more. Chloe had known about him before they'd even met? She'd been planning to recruit him? What was the Fringe Division? Was that the team she was supposed to be a part of? The ones that dealt with the weirdness? The one he'd only now gotten cleared enough to even know existed?
"He is too valuable an asset as a team member to waste him on being my Bonder," Chloe concluded before she took in a deep breath and turned to face Lincoln. "I don't believe in coincidences. I believe you're meant to be a valuable part of my team. You're one of the few in my shortlist, and the fact that we met tonight of all nights, and you're here, and you've proven you're able to handle even the wackiest of whacko situations and roll with it… I want you on my team."
"You want me?" Lincoln asked softly.
"We've got great medical," she offered with a small smile.
He glanced around them and chuckled. "I can guess why."
"How about me then?" Dean suddenly asked, and then when both Chloes gave him a scandalized look, he cleared his throat and lifted his hands up in submission. "Not me me, but the me from your timeline. You say you've met dad, so why not meet me?" He leaned back and laid his arm around Alt!Chloe's shoulder. "The you and I from this timeline get along."
Alt!Chloe waved her hand to motion it was only 50/50 that they got along, and yet the smile obvious in her eyes proved she was teasing him. Her eyes widened as she turned to Chloe. "Who is this other version of us with?"
"She says no one, but from how she talks I think she is with someone named Ollie."
Dean seemed to be categorizing that in the "Need to Know" pile as he scowled.
Alt!Chloe noticed and smirked as she leaned harder against him, which made Dean grin and tighten his hold around her. He was obviously very much in love.
Chloe glanced between them. "Can I take a photo of the three of you? I want to show it to my John, and tell him not to be such an asshat like this one."
Dean cleared his throat and nodded.
Chloe pulled out Lincoln's phone, he'd forgotten she still had it, and took a picture. Just as she took the picture, and the flash went off, Lincoln's world went dark.
One minute she'd been taking a picture of Alt!Chloe, Dean, and their son, and the next Chloe found herself in what appeared to be the set of a porno which had just wrapped up. She glanced around her in confusion until she realized she wasn't alone, and when she recognized the person with her she nearly kicked herself for not having realized what was going on sooner.
There, wearing an incredible porno mustache, was none other than Coyote.
"Do you know how long I've been search for you?" She stomped over to where he was peering at some polaroids. "Where have you been?"
"Busy." He passed her a polaroid. "Does this costume make my ass look fat?"
She didn't even look at it. "Yes."
He tutted and took the polaroid back.
"Was any of it real?" She turned to lean back against the table where he had the polaroids displayed.
"Of course." He shifted some of the pictures around in different positions. "I was trying to figure out which to show you and figured this was a good one."
"Wait, you know about the other realities?" Chloe asked in surprise. Knowledge of, and the ability to access alternate realities wasn't something that was in her database of Coyote's known abilities. This seemed… out of character… and a completely different sort of skill set.
"Believe me, the Justice League and Dorian universes are some of the tame ones, theres even a different Dorian universe in which you went to Stanford. In that one Dean never found out about you and Dorian until after you'd gotten together with his brother Sam. By that time you and Sam are basically cemented, so while Dean is forced to accept it - especially given you and Sam have two children together as well - he's resentful because he knows Sam unknowingly stole the family Dean has always secretly wanted."
Chloe's eyes widened. "You can't be serious."
"Oh, no, I am. I keep a tab on the many different versions of you out there, you've been an interesting topic ever since I found out you were the new Adept," Coyote responded offhandedly. "You're a doozy, let me tell you, and interestingly enough, while there might be other guys that you are with in these universes, Sam and Dean pop up a lot. Like. A lot a lot." He leaned in close. "I've seen so many versions of you and Sam, or you and Dean, or you, Sam and Dean that, well, let me say, I'm shipping Chlam and Chlean and Schlean. Although, I have to say, Schleanvatore is a guilty pleasure of mine."
"Are you speaking in a different language?" Chloe wanted to know in confusion as her head tried to process those terms and yet couldn't find anything even close to it. "I can't compute too many of those words."
Coyote waved that off as non-consequential. "And there's always something slightly off about you, no matter the universe. Sometimes it's your meteor power, sometimes you have a different meteor power, or its magic - you're a witch in some of these universes - and you're satan's bride in another - the new Satan in another - a dragon in another - and, well, there's a universe in which Harry Potter is real and you're definitely going to end up with Draco Malfoy. I know endgame when I see it, and you two are a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet."
"There's a universe in which Harry Potter is real." Chloe tried to digest that but couldn't.
"Yeah, you're very much brainwashed and under a shitload of different dark magic hexes in that one. Voldemort has you honestly believing that he's the good guy and Harry Potter's the bad guy, which, I mean, c'mon!" Coyote muttered before shaking his head. "Considering I've spied glances of realities in which you're with Angel from Buffy, Arthur from Arthurian mythology, Daryl from the Walking Dead, and even Captain Becker from Primeval, I've got to guess that every show I love is real in one of these realities, and you're with… actually my favorite characters." He seemed not only amused, but absolutely giddy with this. "Even the girls!"
Chloe nearly choked on her saliva. "Excuse me? I'm not bi!"
Coyote raised an eyebrow as he began to list names off of his fingers. "Faye Chamberlain, Katherine Pierce, Olivia Lennox, Buffy Summers, Tess Mercer, Morgana Pendragon, Faith Lehane, Kara Kent, Lana Lang, Bella Swan—."
"Wait, from Twilight?" Chloe's eyes widened in complete shock.
"Yuh." Coyote nodded as if that should be obvious.
"There's a universe in which Twilight is real?"
"There's a couple, actually, and you skip around between Bella, Jacob, Edward and this dude from the Volturi who you basically have castrated. It's sad." He chuckled. "Given everything I know, I'm looking for a universe in which Transformers, The Fast and the Furious, National Treasure, Cloverfield, REC are real… hell… even some Fired Up! would be acceptable." He let out a deep breath and shook his head. "The point is, no matter how shitty things are, you have always found someone… usually a Winchester. So stop being so damned stubborn and find someone already."
"So the universe isn't telling me to get a permanent Bonder… you are." Chloe stole his polaroids from him as she collapsed down on one of the beanie bags. She laid the polaroids on her lap and went over them one by one. One of her hands remained against the side of her head as the headache from before got worse. "You seem to think that I'm not trying to find a Bonder. I am. It just isn't a priority. Building my team is." She pressed the tips of her fingertips hard against the painful beating in her temple. "Peter is—."
"Looking for his replacement."
Chloe went still all over are hurt and confusion welled inside of her. "What?"
"What do you think Deputy Do Wrong is all about? Or Special Agent G Callen before him? Or Agent Henriksen before him?" Coyote motioned her to scoot over and collapsed down next to her on the beanie bags. "He's got five candidates, and you're on the way of disqualifying number three. That leaves Peter with only two left." Coyote tilted his head. "Surely you must've noticed something off with him. He's nervous you're going to give him all the cues that this one isn't the one either, like you've done during all the other Compatibility Tests you've unknowingly been on."
Nausea rolled in her stomach and bubbled up her throat as tears trickled her eyes. He'd been trying to get rid of her on the sly. She knew that she was a burden, but she hadn't realized that it was so horrible for him that he'd go behind her back in a desperate attempt to finally be free of her.
The tears broke free, as did soft sobs as she covered her mouth to try to quiet them.
"You're in love with him," Coyote whispered.
"No," Chloe denied pitifully as her headache grew worse and worse.
"He can't be your permanent Bonder, Chloe," Coyote whispered as he placed his arm around her shoulders. "You need to accept that and find a Bonder soon. Things are coming, horrible things, and you're going to need a permanent Bonder, or, well, I prefer this universe's term Anchor better. The other always makes me think of boning, whereas this one really makes me think of what he's supposed to do - he's supposed to anchor you down. And you need him. And fast."
Chloe wiped her eyes silently.
"Why not Lincoln?" Coyote cleared his throat. "You almost used him in Anne's universe when you felt your Bond with Peter about to break. You obviously don't have issues with him."
She wasn't proud with how willing she'd been, how desperate, but from the time that Alt!Lincoln and the Fringe Division had saved them from Lex she'd been intrigued. She'd studied him, knowing that she would need to use someone soon if Peter couldn't get her back in time, and out of all of the males there, the only ones close to being acceptable were Anne's blonde companion, and Alt!Lincoln. He'd been about to do it too, no matter how curt or wary he'd been he must've seen something in her eyes that'd convinced him to help her.
It was why she'd searched him up since she'd come back, and had known all about his version on this side.
"He has skills and potential. I need him on the team. I can't use him as Bon—as Anchor," Chloe replied softly. "I know getting Peter's replacement is important I—I just thought it could wait until I had the team assembled." Her gaze lowered to the hands she had clenched tightly on her lap. "I didn't realize how Peter felt."
"You really don't," Coyote whispered softly.
She sniffled and reached for a polaroid, which she passed to him. "This one is my favorite."
"Really?" He took it from her and eyed the candid of him in a doctor's outfit, sans shirt.
"Definitely," she whispered before her hands returned once more to her head as she let out a whimper. "I'm not picking Brice just to give Peter his freedom, but I'm going to actively start looking for his replacement."
"You should check out the Winchester boys, Sam, Dean, or Sam and Dean seem to work out for you 8 times out of 10. There's got to be something there."
"I was thinking of using their father, that would make things awkward."
"Stop making excuses, Chloe."
She realized she was and nodded. "I will."
"Good." Coyote snapped his fingers…
…and suddenly Chloe found herself sitting in the booth once more. The restaurant was alive and loud, forcing Brice to speak louder as he chatted to Anne. Peter wasn't at the table. She could see his figure off in the distance talking on the phone. Jared and Lincoln were talking amongst themselves, laughing.
No one seemed to remember anything that had happened.
Maybe it hadn't happened at all, maybe it had only been in her head… yet if that was so… why was her head in so much pain?
"Are you okay?" Lincoln suddenly asked her. "Your nose is bleeding."
The attention of the table suddenly turned on her as Chloe grabbed a napkin and dabbed it against her nostril. "Yeah, I"m fine. I just need to go to the bathroom."
"Oh!" Brice scooted out immediately and she slipped out and free, hurrying to the bathroom, where she washed the blood away and watched it circle in the basin before disappearing down the sink.
The event hadn't been a figment of her imagination, it'd been a message, a warning, and as Chloe raised her gaze to stare at her reflection, she steeled herself to keep her promise.
Slipping out of the bed, Chloe sent Peter a little look before she grabbed her phone where it blinked colors silently, letting her know that someone was calling. She hadn't left Peter's apartment that night, and while she'd sent word with Anne that so Gibbs know she wouldn't be home she'd half expected him to call, so she was surprised to see who was actually calling… then again, should she really have been so surprised given everything?
She slipped out onto the fire escape despite how freaking cold it was, and answered the phone as she leaned against the railing.
"Hey."
"That message you sent me," John Winchester mumbled. "Was that some sort of sick joke?"
"Nope. Alternate realities exist. I wasn't able to get the photographic proof you're going to ask for, but you were a real asshole in that universe, as I detailed in my message." She let out a sigh. "I wouldn't lie about this, John. Don't lose your sons, not over something like that. Family is important, and your boys love you. You should've seen the way Dean looked. He tried to seem like your loss didn't matter to him, but his eyes said it all. He's hurt and he needs his father."
"You don't know anything about having kids."
"No, but I understanding needing someone, and he needs you," she replied and then flinched when a stray throb of pain wrecked her head.
There was a silence. "You don't sound well."
"I need to set Peter free," she whispered as she rubbed her temple. "I guess a part of me isn't doing too good because of that."
"Because you love him."
"I don't."
He snorted. "Sure you don't."
Taking a deep, stuttered breath, Chloe gazed down at the alleyway beneath her. "Go see your sons, John."
He made a little sound and then hung up.
Taking in a deep breath, Chloe glanced up at the sky and let out a deep breath. She couldn't be selfish anymore. No matter how safe and secure he made her feel, no matter how much she'd grown to love having him nearby, having him be the one person who understood her better than anyone else, she needed to let him go. This was only a temporary thing, he'd made her promise that when he'd agreed. Did he think she would never look for a replacement? Was that why he'd gone behind her back in hopes of finding one sooner? Was he forcing himself to stay here?
Fighting tears, Chloe jolted in surprise when something wet hit her hand. She looked down to find a dark spot on her hand. And then, with her gaze on it, she was able to see a drop of dark liquid fall and cover her hand, and another.
Green eyes widened as she brought her hand to her nose to find it wet. When she removed her hand it was covered in blood.
Why was she bleeding? And even more than before? Peter and her had — it should be fixed!
Staring at her hand, watching as more and more drops of blood fell and accumulated, Chloe collapsed to her knees.
End of "The Unravelling"