"It's my birthday today," Kiera announces out of the blue one Tuesday morning.
"Oh, uh… happy birthday?"
Alec has no idea how he's supposed to respond to this information. Her tone is carefully neutral, and he can't see her face to look for any clues. Is she excited? Sad? Indifferent? It seems to him like it should be a big deal, her first birthday away from home. He remembers how hard Sam's birthday was for her, how she nearly lost it with grief (and he's still outraged at his future self for creating a program to threaten her with erasing her memories; future him is a power-hungry douche.) She's getting older in this brave new world; time is passing and carrying her further and further from what she knew and who she used to be. Most days she seems resigned to that fate, accepting even, but he knows that doesn't mean it isn't still hard for her.
The line goes quiet for a minute, then Kiera says, "I have a present for you."
"You know that's not how it works, right?"
"I know, but… Just, meet me at my place when you finish up at the lab tonight, all right?"
He spends the rest of the day struggling to focus. What does that mean, she has a present for him? Should he get her a gift? It seems like a nice, normal thing guys do for their girlfriends, but then, he has no idea what to get her. It's not like she gave him a lot of time to prepare.
Ultimately he decides to show up empty-handed. Kiera doesn't strike him as the sort to make a big deal out of her own birthday. Maybe she just doesn't want to be alone tonight.
He knocks, and Kiera answers the door wearing a short white dress. It's so utterly unlike anything he's ever seen her in that he's speechless for a full twenty seconds, just staring.
Finally he remembers he should probably say something. Clearing his throat, he goes with, "Uh. Hi. Happy birthday – I didn't, um, get you anything, but…" He trails off as she shuts the door behind him. She's looking at him so intently, yet she hasn't uttered a word. It's… a little unnerving, actually. "Nice dress, by the way," he finishes lamely.
Kiera steps closer to him. "It's my birthday," she states quietly. "And I love you. I was thinking, if you want to… if you're ready… we could, you know. Try again."
What is she… oh. Oh. Realization dawns, and Alec feels his eyes widen. "Yes. Yes. Are you sure?" he breathes, certain that somehow there's been a mistake, he can't possibly be this lucky. But she's smiling at him and nodding, and his heart is pounding as her hands slide the sleeves of his jacket off his shoulders, and he winds his fingers into her hair and crashes his lips against hers, and for once in his life he is nowhere but here, now, totally and completely absorbed in the present moment.
"That was…" He leaves the sentence unfinished, hoping Kiera will fill in the blanks for him.
She rolls over and faces him with a smirk. "You're fishing for compliments."
"A little feedback would be nice, yeah."
"You could use some practice."
"Hey!" he protests. "I never claimed to be an expert."
"You know, I wouldn't mind training you," she suggests, running a finger down his chest.
"I'm the technically-still-a-teenager one here. Aren't I supposed to be the one with the insatiable appetite?"
"Are you offering another round?"
"Kiera," he groans in disbelief. "We have work in the morning!"
"I have work in the morning," she corrects. "You set your own schedule."
"Be that as it may, I still have to actually sleep at some point."
Kiera frowns a little at him. "Are you going home?"
"Do I have to?"
She curls up into him. "Stay," she urges.
So he does.
He does, in fact, make it to the lab at a fairly reasonable hour the next morning. Unfortunately, Kellogg is already there waiting for him. Goodbye, good mood.
"Morning, Mr. Sadler," Kellogg drawls.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" snipes Alec. He'd really rather be alone with his thoughts this morning, and Kellogg being here right now is all kinds of inconvenient.
"Grumpy, are we? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I see. But the question is: whose bed, hmm?"
"What?"
"Mussed hair, late for work, wearing yesterday's clothes? Yes, ladies and gentlemen, our young Alec is finally getting laid! So who's the lucky lady?"
Alec shoots his obnoxious benefactor a glare. "That's exactly none of your damn business."
Kellogg chuckles, and a tiny part of Alec would cheerfully strangle him if he could. "Come on, Alec. You've been mooning for months. She must really be—" He pauses. "Why, Alec," he says, something new and hard in his voice. "I didn't know you had it in you. The Protector, really? Though I can't say I blame you. She truly is something special, isn't she? I would know."
Alec feels sick to his stomach as he recalls what Kiera told him about how she obtained the slice of the time travel device. It didn't go down quite how Kellogg is implying, but that doesn't make the lascivious look on Kellogg's face any more palatable.
"Stay out of my life, Kellogg," Alec says furiously.
"Ah, ah, ah. No can do. Business partners, remember? I'm wounded that you would leave me in the dark about this latest development," Kellogg pronounces.
"Just leave her alone, okay? I know you, and I don't trust you not to do something stupid about this. Or about anything else, really."
"Can it be…? Do you love her?" Kellogg peers into Alec's face and then claps his hands together gleefully. "You do, don't you? Oh, this is priceless! The great Alec Sadler has fallen in love with the woman out of time. This can only end tragically, you know," he says sagely. "She isn't even supposed to be here. And you… you have a greater destiny to fulfill, my friend, and it's not one Kiera wants any part of. Believe me."
"Yeah? Well then maybe I don't want any part of it either!" He turns to leave, then, and Kellogg grabs his arm.
"Think, Alec. You are not an impulsive man. You'd throw everything away, your potential, your legacy, for what? A few rolls in the hay with an older woman?"
"I'm not throwing anything away," Alec spits. "I'm just rethinking some things. And this alliance is one of them."
With that, he wrenches his arm out of Kellogg's grip and walks away.
A/N: A surprise douchey Kellogg appears! Honestly, I had no idea he was going to show up in this fic at all, but there he was, fully formed and begging to be written. This chapter was possibly my favorite to write, and easily the one I'm proudest of. Next chapter might be up later this weekend, or it might be longer, depending on how some challenging characterization goes.
