For once, Paul had been right. About everything.
Sofia had agreed almost instantly to help Will find the cure for chronon syndrome. It took two years, but the two of them finally developed a cure. What Paul hadn't told them was that Hatch would retaliate. Maybe it should've been obvious that the man pining for the end of time would violently oppose them the closer they got to saving the world.
Working together for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, Jack and Paul were able to destroy Hatch, rescue Beth, and finally fix the fracture for good. Unlike his attempt in 2016, fixing the true fracture also corrected the timeline. Every change, every action, undone. For everyone but the three of them, it was as if the fracture had never occurred, and they found themselves back in Riverport in 2016. Back where it all started.
Though they would never remember crafting it, Paul was able to use Will and Sofia's cure to finally reverse the chronon syndrome for the three of them. Finally, it was over. They could get back to living normal lives, if that was even possible.
October 25, 2016, 9:30am
"I'm worried about her, Jack."
"Yeah..." Jack replied.
It had been two weeks since they finally sealed the fracture at the end of time. When it was done, the three of them had found themselves suddenly back at the Riverport University, right where they started and with all of their memories intact. The room that had once housed the University time machine was empty. When Jack had finally reunited with Will, it became clear that fixing the Fracture had changed more than just the last two years. It had changed everything all the way back to 1999. No time machine, no countermeasure, no Fracture. Everything was exactly as it should have been.
Except for Beth. With Paul's help, they were able to track her down. It took days to find her, and when they finally did she was cowering alone in an alley in the middle of the night. Curing the chronon syndrome had helped, a bit, but she was still in bad shape. When Jack had offered to take her home, Beth had nearly collapsed. "I can't be alone again," she had cried. So Beth and Jack moved in with Will. Jack had told him everything, and though none of it had happened for him, Will believed every word without hesitation.
"I don't know if she's slept," Will continued, looking down at his still full cup of coffee.
"If you had seen what we've seen, you wouldn't be sleeping much either," Jack told him, briefly glancing at the doorway out of the kitchen. He couldn't see Beth from where he was, but he knew she was sitting on the couch, just as she had been for the last several hours. Will had found here there when he woke up. She had just been sitting alone, in the dark, staring at the TV. It hadn't even been turned on.
"Maybe we should have her talk to someone about it," Will suggested.
"Oh that's a great idea," Jack said with a snort. "I'm sure it would go over really well when she told them how she was a time traveler from the future."
Will sighed, then took a long sip of his coffee. "Well, we have to do something."
"It's gonna take time," Jack told his brother. "I... I haven't really been sleeping much either."
"Well, maybe you should talk to her," Will urged, motioning toward the living room with his head.
"Yeah..." Jack agreed hesitantly. "I want to help, but I just... I don't what to say."
"Take it from a guy who's never been able to say anything," Will said. "Just say something."
Jack's eyes lit up. "That's brilliant."
"What?" Will asked in confusion. "That didn't seem particularly insightful."
"You're brilliant," Jack repeated with a grin, jumping up from his chair and heading for the stairs. After a quick search of his bedroom, he found what he was looking for. He barrelled back down the stairs and moved toward the living room.
As Jack entered the room, Beth briefly glanced toward him before looking away. Jack quietly stepped around the couch and sat beside her. The light from the TV washed over the two of them - Will had turned it on earlier in the morning - and Beth made no move to acknowledge his presence.
"I have something for you," Jack said softly. After a moment, Beth slowly turned to face him, and as he held up the object in his hand her eyes softened.
"Your giraffe...?" she asked softly.
"It always helped Will," Jack told her, motioning for her to take it. She reluctantly reached out and took the toy, setting it in her lap and staring at it for several long moments.
"I'm afraid," Beth finally admitted. "All the time."
"Afraid of what?"
"Afraid that none of this is real," she told him. "That everything will disappear again. That I'll be alone again. That we'll still fail."
Jack looked down, sighing lightly to himself. "You know, I felt a little bit like that after my parents died. Even though I had Will, he was... distant. I felt alone. I tried to withdraw, to protect myself, but..." Jack looked back up at her. "You know it doesn't work. If you try to protect yourself by keeping people out, you just end up alone, and yeah, sure, maybe other people can't hurt you, but you're still alone."
"I just... I can't..."
"If you try to protect yourself from being alone by keeping everyone away, you're still alone," Jack told her with a shrug, then his serious expression changed to a smirk. "Hey, if you want to be alone together I've got plenty of time to spare."
"Time," Beth repeated with a light laugh, and the first smile he'd seen on her face in weeks.
"We've got lots of it now," Jack reminded her. He reached to the coffee table to pick up the TV remote. "And trust me, you can do better than old reruns of Golden Girls."
"Excuse you," she objected, snatching the remote from him.
Jack laughed. "I suppose, given your taste in music, I shouldn't be surprised by your taste in television."
Beth laughed lightly as she turned the volume up. There was an awkward silence between them for several minutes. "Hey Jack."
"Yeah?"
"I know I haven't made things easy," Beth told him softly, avoiding eye contact. "Thanks for letting me stay here."
"Hey, Will and I owe you. Taking care of you is the least we can do." Jack turned toward the TV and propped his feet up on the coffee table in front of the couch. "So if you're going to make me binge this with you, can we at least start from the beginning?"
Beth chuckled and handed him the TV remote. "Take it."
"How do you know I won't change it to something else?" Jack asked with a smile.
"Because," Beth told him. "I trust you."
