Jason was crazy, well-meaning, but reality-challenged. In her desperation, how much had she wanted to believe that he could get her back to where she belonged. Against all odds, Kiera had burned to believe that he was as rational as she was, which was debatable as long as the separation from her family lengthened. Tin foil and worn-out rubbery tubes did not a time machine make, woefully incapable of transporting her back to them. It was a fool's pipe-dream.
She had to get out of here, this moment! If not back to her loved ones, then leave this city for the time being, before she went stark raving mad. With her cover having almost been blown, she wasn't sure if coming here was the wisest thing to do before going off. Kiera wasn't sure how long she would be away, but away she had to go. She needed time…she scoffed at the notion. Since when had she been afforded that luxury since she had arrived here in the midst of this space-time expansive chaos?
She stopped grappling with this complicated thing brewing between Kellog and herself. Whatever had transpired between them the other night, before she had gone to Carlos' hospital bed, she had already shelved. Had they, or hadn't they? The over consumption of alcohol had muddied those waters.
Or, so she had thought. Having called him, less than an hour ago, airing how lost again she felt, Kiera flip-flopped. Kellog had suggested that he take her on a boat ride, far enough away so she could clear her head this time instead of befuddling it. Emphasis would be placed on regrouping sober this go round.
His proposal was tempting…
Hesitating before she knocked, Kiera knew that this was the right thing to do. It felt good being here if for no other reason than to see the man's big brown eyes light up when he saw her at his door. Was it selfish to have her own personal 'cheering section?' Having been here before, it didn't feel strange. Why would it? Though not being home, it was close enough. Strong, tender feelings did powerful things to one's perception. If there was one person whom she needed to bid farewell to, it was this open-minded giant of a man.
Finally, she was willing to admit to herself that he had her back as well as her heart, a heart desperate for solace.
She stepped forward, closer to his apartment door. Following her knock, she waited for him to answer. She willed her wildly beating heart to slow its rapid, ragged clip. Anticipating what to expect, Kiera responded to the faint footfalls she believed she heard. He would be a tsunami of surging questions, demanding that she give him real answers, not half-truths. Her holding back what deserved to be answered took its toll, bit by bit. Niggling exhaustion enveloped her.
Kiera, in spite of wanting to see him again, possibly for what could be the last time, or, at the least, for a very long while, had a hard time wrestling with that incongruous subject. Each passing day she spent in this context brought more questions, few answers, but inevitably, more lies she spun.
It was conceivable that he wasn't home. Despite the late hour, he could still be at headquarters. Today had been a morass of minutiae and dreck. Exhaustive hashing out to make sense of it all would be mandatory. Have fun with that, Kiera thought. Her mind-blown partner was probably cursing her this very moment. He had every right to. Thanks to her useful suit, she had disappeared without a trace, having left Agent Gardiner gaping in utter disbelief.
Which explained her showing up on her partner's doorstep for a change. She had no choice; he deserved more from her, not less. He deserved to see for himself what he would always mean to her.
She'd been here just once; this made twice. Hello…goodbye.
Not resisting, she knocked again, harder this time. Then, as though in slow-motion, she realized he had a doorbell. She mashed it in.
He peeped through his door's eyehole and seeing who it was, Carlos exclaimed, "Kiera!"
She stepped back from the door as he opened it. "I…"
"Get in here—" His hand was on her, pulling her inside.
"Are you all right?"
"Fine. You?" He peppered her with pointed looks. "What happened to you after the blast? Gardiner claimed you disappeared in the wreckage. Poof, gone."
"I've been temporarily reassigned." She canned the lie chomping to leap from her mouth. She went with the inclination to be as truthful as she desired to be with him. She kept thinking how much she owed him. "The decision was mine."
"Not your mysterious superior's? Ashraf? Ashrof? Whatever… The guy Gardiner said validated your credentials."
Her fragile smile held. "No." Kiera allowed Carlos to lead her to his plush, light-colored couch and he invited her to sit. She did, foregoing protest. The feeling that she owed him led the way. Truly, he warranted this slight concession. He joined her on the couch, persistent in trying to read her mood. Her sigh filled the pause. It went on, garnering dramatic emphasis, longer than she intended it to last. Hesitancy past, she said, "It's been…" Stop— She told herself not to turn this into melodramatic woe. "I came to say goodbye." Short and to the point, her hallmark.
"Goodbye…" The word cut him like the proverbial knife, in this instance, a serrated one. "Is that 'goodbye,' as in I'm never going to see you again?"
His cavalier demeanor wore thin. The lump that had risen in his throat had boulder dimensions.
Visibly shaken, yet welded to her patented faraway look, Kiera wielded, "My briefing is scheduled in a few days. I really have no way of knowing."
Her response, coupled with her nonchalant tone, deflated him. Her bite had hit its mark. This was it, the kiss-off, the parting of the ways. "It's unlikely I'm ever going to see you again, isn't it?"
"I…I…" Fiercely, she looked away, embedding her hand into her mouth. Teary and on the brink of dissolving into an effusive outpouring of emotion, Kiera closed her eyes. "C-can't say."
"Then, I will," Carlos said with just the right tincture of poignancy. "Even though you're going deep undercover to infiltrate LiberEight and I won't know where you are, or what's happening with you, I'll be with you in spirit, Kiera. No measure of distance and inaccessibility can prevent that. Understand?"
Nodding furiously, but unable to put into words all she felt, Kiera kept nodding. Her handprint was leaving its impression on the skin close to her mouth. She gritted her teeth, desperate for holding on to this moment, while not falling apart. Time, again…she thought. "Th-thank…" she tried squeezing out through her teeth.
"Remember, if you need me, call me."
With blood pounding in her skull, Kiera wanted to yell it. Scream it, shriek it, with the angst like lead, which she harbored, what better time than right now? With her spirit quaking within herself, with everything she had, she yearned for him to know. I need you, Carlos. This isn't my choice, it's an imperative. I can't work with your force and accomplish what I must, Kiera inwardly lamented. It's beyond complicated and I can't keep lying to you so you'll understand. The complication is exigent. There's no other recourse than this. "If I can, I will."
"You'd better." As he reached out to touch her, her snuffling began as she tried catching her breath, forcing the welling tears to dissipate. Spitfire effort wasn't the roaring success it usually was. His overprotectiveness could do nothing less than to kick in. "Officially, we may not be partners anymore, but here." Vigorously, with four rigid fingers, he thumped the center of his chest where, beneath, his heart beat like a kettle drum. "Always."
"Carlos…"
And then the not so strangest thing happened. Kiera let him, without further words, willingly accepting the comfort he bathed her in. He coaxed her into his arms, she letting him hold her tight, until the kiss they shared became the sweetest reality.
An hour later, Kiera left Carlos' place, bound for Kellog, bound and determined to sort out the seemingly inconceivable and trenchantly quixotic. She stood on the deck of his superfluous luxury yacht stunned.
Alec's message buzzed in her head…"Your journey here was no accident. Truth is, I'm the one who sent you back in time. You're not going to believe why…."
Here she was, having been catapulted back 65 years into the past, currently, more flummoxed than ever before. What was she supposed to do, now, having been given the little voice in her head's latest bombshell?
TBC, of course...
