Second Chances

"Hey, bud!" Jason Scott called to his long time friend Tommy Oliver. Tommy turned around as Jason jogged up to him. "You got a minute?" asked Jason. "It's kinda important."

Tommy nodded. "Shoot."

Jason dug around in his jeans pocket. He took out a small red velvet box and popped it open. "Check this out. I'm gonna propose to Kimberly tonight when I take her out for dinner."

Tommy smiled at his friend. "I'm happy for you, man," he replied, rubbing his forehead. The last thing he wanted to talk about right now was Kimberly Hart. But she was important to an old pal and colleague whom he didn't get to see often, and so he decided to stick it out.

"Listen, Tommy…if Kim says yes when I pop the question, will you be my best man?" Jason's brown eyes watched Tommy almost nervously. He knew Tommy well enough to know that Kim was still something of a sore spot for him, even after all these years had passed.

"Course I'll be your best man," answered the other man. Jason grinned and then the two exchanged a brief one-armed hug that was customary between men their age.

"We were gonna go get a pizza or something," said Jason. "As a snack in my case because Kim takes so long to get ready it'll probably be midnight before we go anywhere."

Tommy managed a weak smile. "I'll pass," he responded with a yawn. "I gotta put in some work for Anton and then I'm hitting the hay."

"You work too hard, Tommy!" shouted Jason as he turned away from his friend and started back towards the group of men wearing red a couple yards away. "Tell Mercer to lay off of you now and then!"

Tommy waved to his friend and continued on to his red sports car. He was just glad this mission was over. He wanted to hang up his morpher for good.

--

Tommy poked his head into Kim's bridal room, only to see her standing all alone in her white satin gown, staring at herself in the full length mirror.

"Hey beautiful," he said softly before he could stop himself from using his old term of affection for her.

She giggled and crossed the room to him. "It means a lot to Jason that you're his best man. You're like a brother to him, you know. And it's nice to know that we can both be mature about our past and still be friends."

"Of course," said Tommy. "I'd better get out there before Jason loses it. He's nervous enough as it is." Kim nodded and stood on her tiptoes to kiss her old flame's cheek.

"I'll see you in a minute, alright?"

Tommy didn't trust his mouth to not say anything he would regret later, so he merely gave a jerk of his head and headed out of the room towards the wedding hall. There were no hard feelings towards Kim and no slight envy of Jason. None at all.

Who was he trying to fool, anyway? He still secretly hurt over Kim and he certainly didn't want to watch her marry another man, especially one who he loved as a brother.

But that was life. Scratch that, this was his life.