A week had passed since the accident with the mental gamer. Nobody had seen nor heard of Alisha. Pretending to be sick, she was avoiding them, still not sure what she wanted to do next. She had decided to stay at Future Simon's flat until she made up her mind. Everything reminded her of him but she was happy. She missed him, of course, but she knew he had returned to his own timeline. His job here was done, they were safe again and Alisha felt she could really fall in love with her saviour, the shy weird boy she now understood like no other. The future was bright again and that photo taken in Vegas seemed more plausible than ever. They just needed time. And, thanks to him, they now had all the time in the world.

Exactly a week later her doctor told her he couldn't cover up for her anymore. She had to go back to her job at the community centre or whatever it was they were doing there. So she went out early the next morning. She wanted to meet Simon on the way there and probably have the chance to talk to him in private. She still didn't know exactly what had happened. Kelly had been calling her, but Alisha wouldn't pick up. She was too busy daydreaming about the day this Simon will be able to touch her. Future Simon seemed almost unreal now, like a bedtime story you've heard all too often and now feel as if you've actually been there. So Alisha dressed as casually as she could, hurried out and kept her eyes open for Simon.

She found him soon enough. Dressed in black, he was quite handsome, she thought. She tried to call out to him, but he had his headphones on and was frightened when she ran up to him.

'D'you want to walk in together?'

Seeming confused, he looked around, obviously thinking it was some kind of a cruel joke. Alisha went on.

'You don't have to if you're embarrassed to be seen with me.'

'I've never been embarrassed to be seen with you.' There was nothing apologetic in his voice. He had never avoided her; on the contrary, he was always as pleasant as he could manage. 'He's one of the few people who don't judge me,' she thought.

'Good. Ready?'

Finally he made up his mind and followed her. They walked in awkward silence for a moment.

'What are you listening to?' Alisha asked.

'Echo and the Bunnymen.'

'Never heard of them.'

Simon didn't look surprised. 'I should have thought he's into indie music,' passed through Alisha's mind. Simon was handing her one of the earphones. He made sure he didn't touch her hand while doing so and Alisha smiled guiltily. His expression was clearly saying 'You're going to hate this, but remember, you asked for it.'

'This is really depressing.'

Simon just smiled. They were walking very close to each other now, their shoulders constantly touching. Alisha had so many questions. There wasn't going to be a better moment to do this.

'Simon, what happened, what exactly happened that day?'

'You mean when we were hanging from those meat hooks?'

'I couldn't have put it better myself,' Alisha half-smiled.

'We got lucky. Nikky teleported herself.'

'But she can't control it!' Alisha wasn't getting it.

'Yes, but she somehow managed to do the thing she wanted most. She got off the hook.'

'And then? She let all of you down too?'

'She let me down first. I asked her.' Simon's voice deepened a bit.

'Why?'

'I thought I could turn invisible and get unnoticed near the mental gamer. I thought I could neutralize him.' He sounded a little ashamed of himself, but at the same time proud that he had lived up to his own expectations.

'So it was all you? You shot him?'

'I had to. He was hurting you. By the time I had carried you back the others were free and we took you home. I mean, we took you to my home. It was the closest. We didn't know where your parents live.'

'You carried me? God that must have been difficult!'

'It was all right.' From his expression she could see it must have been pretty hard.

'Simon, I never properly thanked you. May I do it now?'

'There is no need.' He was very uneasy.

'Indeed, there is.'

Alisha said that and stopped. One of the earphones was still in her ear so Simon had to come to a halt as well. Alisha turned to him. It was hard for her to look him in the eyes, he still reminded her too much of her Simon.

'Thank you,' she whispered. She took the hood of her sweatshirt and carefully placed part of it on his cheek and then kissed it. It was the most awkward thing she had even done.

'That was so not cool, I'm never doing that again,' Alisha smiled shyly.

'No, it was… it was nice.'

'You better have this back,' Alisha said, handing him carefully his earphones. 'I've had quite enough depressing music today, thank you.'

They were almost at the community centre now. In under a minute they would be meeting the rest of the 'gang'. Alisha only hoped they didn't get in trouble again anytime soon.

The first thing they heard as they entered the dressing room was Nathan saying 'Some bastard killed me last night.' This was going to be one hell of a quiet day.