OK -- I admit it this is actually pretty much original work. (Had to happen!) No episodes of Power Rangers Time Force were harmed in the writing of this chapter, although this does touch on one of the plot strands of Trust and Triumph. The characters aren't mine however, and nor are a number of the events they mention. They belong to Saban or BVE. Or something like that. No money made!

This chapter is a quiet one after the last two solid action chapters -- but the action will return for chapter nine!

Many thanks to Ekat for the beta'ing and for liking the line I wrote with her in mind. For Darci and Selma -- for both saying very nice things about me.

Please offer feedback -- it tells me how I'm doing. Glad you guys are enjoying it!

~*~

Identity -- Time To Heal

Wes was lying on the couch as he had been for most of the two-week lull that had been in existence since the activation of the Quantum Ranger. Most of that first week had actually passed by in a complete haze of pain, but now he was beginning to chaff a little at the restrictions.

"You want to know what the worst thing about this is?" Wes asked no-one in particular.

"You mean other than the fact that Eric's now the Quantum Ranger?" Jen replied, being the only person present in the room to hear the comment.

Wes groaned. No-one had actually blamed him for that -- not that it had stopped him from blaming himself. "Yes, other than that."

"OK, I'll bite. What?"

"I feel absolutely fine until I actually move."

Jen gave vent to a snort that Wes suspected was actually swallowed laughter. "I'm not surprised," was all she actually said.

"Don't say it."

"Say what?" Jen asked innocently. "That it's your own fault?"

Wes sighed. "Yes, that." She hadn't let him forget that fact either.

"It does happen to be true," Jen commented.

Wes groaned. "I know." He heard her stand up and a few moments later she appeared in front of the couch and crouched down. "Please tell me I'm not about to get another lecture."

"You're not about to get another lecture," Jen answered, smiling. "I was going to ask if you wanted anything."

Now or never... "Actually, there is something."

Jen raised her eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Tell me about Alex."

Wes watched as Jen's expression froze. "What?"

Wes sighed -- he had known this wasn't going to be easy. "Look...there's this huge elephant sitting in the middle of the room and everyone's politely not talking about it and it's driving me nuts."

"You're already nuts," Jen responded faintly.

"OK -- more nuts," Wes amended.

Jen rocked back and squatted down on the floor. "You know what my first reaction is?"

"It doesn't concern me?" Wes suggested shrewdly. "Heard that one before. It might have been true, back in the beginning..."

"It isn't now," Jen finished, nodding. "It doesn't make it any easier."

Wes smiled faintly. "Guess it wouldn't."

Jen sighed. "Why do you want to know?"

It was Wes' turn to sigh. "Being laid up for the last week or so...it's given me a lot of time to think. You know so much about me...but you..." He grimaced, not really being able to explain himself properly. "You're a...an enigma wrapped up in a mystery."

"I try to avoid letting people in," Jen admitted. "It saves trouble."

"How do you mean?"

"If you don't let them get close, they can't hurt you...not really."

"So where does Alex fit in?"

A faint smile flitted across Jen's face. "He was the exception to the rule." Her eyes stared off into the distance. "I owe so much of what I am to him...but I still wish I hadn't let him in." Her eyes refocused on Wes with the same unnerving intensity they had possessed the first time they'd met. "He was the first guy I knew who wasn't scared by me...and the first person in Time Force who actually believed in me."

Wes raised his eyebrows in silent query.

Jen smirked faintly. "I joined the Time Force academy on my eighteenth birthday. All my life I'd promised myself that I would join up, become an officer and..." She shrugged. "Save the world I guess. Being so...driven...it kinda put the guys off when I was in high school."

Wes thought back to his own high school days. "Yeah -- I think that would have scared me too."

Jen flashed a grin. "But it all came to a crashing halt when I got into the academy. I realised that everything I'd built myself up to be was...just plain wrong. I couldn't cope with the pressure, I seemed to be flunking on most of the physical courses...about the only thing I seemed to be any good at was reciting the regs -- and only that because I'd learned them by heart as a kid. I was about to quit."

"So what happened?"

"I met Alex."

"And just like that your life was transformed?" Wes suggested, deliberately making his tone light and joking.

For the first time since he'd known her, Jen actually giggled. "Hardly. It takes more than that to turn a life around. Alex was...ooh boy. He'd been a Time Force agent for four years already -- a ranking officer for two, and he'd been the red Time Force Ranger for about eighteen months -- and was acting as one of the self-defence instructors at the academy... It was a temporary posting while he recovered from..." at this Jen giggled again, "broken ribs."

Wes had to grin at that. "The guy has my sympathies on that count."

"Anyway... After one particularly bad session on the shooting range, I was heading back to my dorm just about ready to write my letter of resignation...and I bumped into someone. Alex. I was horrified. But he...he was really nice about it -- sat me down on a nearby bench and just got me talking.

"I found myself spilling out all my problems and he just listened and nodded and when I'd finished he said 'Maybe all you need is a bit of extra coaching'. Before I knew it not only had he offered to help me, he'd set a date and time for our first session. He was just the nicest guy about it, too -- friendly without being...I don't know. Creepy."

"He sounds like a great guy," Wes agreed.

"He was. He taught me everything I know about being a Time Force officer... I was so proud when I finally graduated from the academy and got my badge. After the ceremony, Alex came over to me and asked me if I'd like to go out for a meal...to celebrate. I said yes...and before either of us knew it we were an 'official' item."

"So what was he like?" Wes asked gently.

Jen smiled. "I guess he was a lot like you. A little quieter, maybe...different sense of humour..." Her voice trailed off.

"What happened?"

"Ransik," Jen spat, all traces of humour fading from her face. "Time Force captured him...Alex captured him, he was sentenced to cryogenic prison for life...and then he escaped."

"Escaped?"

Jen winced. "We...my squad -- Lucas, Trip, Katie, me -- were assigned to transport Ransik to the prison...only Nadira and Frax ambushed us...and Ransik got loose. They went to the prison...set off an alert...and Alex responded. He didn't wait for back up...he just..."

"Charged in?" Wes suggested.

Jen nodded. "When we heard about it...heard about where Ransik had gone, we headed straight for the prison -- it was our fault that Ransik got away...we...I was determined that we'd be the ones to get him back... But we got there in time to see Ransik...kill Alex."

For a long while, there was virtual silence. Wes could only watch helplessly as Jen's shoulders shook with near-soundless sobs. Gradually the tremors slowed in frequency, and eventually, Jen looked up again.

"Sorry," she murmured.

"Nothing to be sorry about." From a pocket in his jeans, Wes produced a handkerchief and carefully handed it to Jen. "About the only useful piece of advice my dad ever gave me."

Jen looked puzzled. "What was?"

"'Now son, always make sure you have a clean handkerchief -- you never know when you might need it'," Wes replied, mimicking his father's stern tones.

Jen managed a weak chuckle. "You're right, that is good advice."

"Feel better about that elephant?"

There was silence for a few moments while Jen thought about the question. "Yeah... A bit." She shot Wes a suspicious look. "How did you know?"

Turnabout is fair play. "Because I reacted much the same way when my mom died," Wes replied.

"Your mom died?" Jen echoed.

Wes nodded. "When I was ten...I'd just finished fifth grade and started on my summer vacation...we were going to go to see mom's family in Austin. I was so excited -- my first trip to see them..."

"What happened?" Jen asked softly.

"Mom had to go into town to buy some things for the trip...she was supposed to meet dad for lunch...she never made it. She got knocked down by a trucker who failed to stop for a cross-walk." Wes stopped for a few moments and swallowed -- he hadn't realised how much it would hurt to talk about this so many years later. "It hit me hard...it hit dad harder. I think that was when he started to really bury himself in his work...I know that's when I suddenly found myself being pushed off to boarding school...and I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I wanted to understand what had happened -- and no-one would talk to me...so I figured I wasn't supposed to talk about it... It was my grandmother...mom's mom...who finally called me on it. But it took a year."

"Wow." Jen shook her head.

"I was a pretty messed up kid, I guess," Wes mused. "Dad and I still haven't really talked about it, either...never had the chance -- I've never known how to bring the subject up with him and..." He shrugged awkwardly. "Guess he doesn't want reminding that it happened."

There was an awkward silence as Jen digested what Wes had just told her. Sorting through his own feelings, he realised that he felt better about a lot of things than he had done in a long while. Having finally told someone about his mother's accident seemed to have lifted a weight from his shoulders. As for what he'd learned about Alex, it helped to ease his mind as to whether or not the actions he'd taken in the last three weeks would have measured up to his doppelganger's standards. Based on Jen's comments, he decided, Alex would have done exactly what he did do.

Then there was how Ransik came to be on the loose. It had always puzzled him as to why Jen and her team had been sent to capture the mutant overlord rather than anyone else -- and why they'd been sent back with so little equipment or preparation. But if this had all been Jen's idea, not her superiors...that made sense. And Wes' admiration for Jen increased another notch.

Startling him out of his reverie, there was a loud clatter on the stairs, heralding the return to the clock tower of Lucas, Katie and Trip, who had been out on assignment.

"I can honestly say," Katie was saying, "that I have never wanted to kill anyone before today."

"Me either," Lucas agreed. "The guy has the biggest chip on his shoulder that I have ever seen!"

Wes looked at Jen, who rolled her eyes.

"What did Eric do today?" she asked.

"Breathed in and out?" suggested Wes.

"Came to gloat again," said Katie. "We need to do something about him, badly."

"Yeah, but what?" Trip asked. "It's not like he's going to give up the quantum powers now."

Wes sighed. "Maybe it's time we went to talk to him... Tried to talk some sense into him...or at least got him on our side."

"Would he listen to us?" Lucas queried. "He didn't seem to be doing a whole lot of listening the last time we tried that."

Slowly and carefully, Wes sat up on the couch. "Well we won't know until we give it a try."

TO BE CONTINUED