Disclaimer::Clutches Jason action figure and cries:: Nope, sure don't.

Challenge: Why?

Set during End of Time part 1


You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can rejoice because thorns have roses. - Unknown


Jen sat at the picnic table, photos scattered across the rough wooden surface. Her eyes searched through the choatic mess until they found the one she was looking for. She recognized it as the one she wanted when saw the tradmark red shirt and the cheeky grin. Gently, she let the others slid away as she lifted it from underneath them.

It hadn't been taken that long ago, but it felt likes years had passed since day. The last free weeks had been crammed with enough pain, suffering, and distruction to last a lifetime. And ever since Alex had returned….things had been different. The atmosphere in the clocktower had changed, and the change lingered long after the former red ranger had returned to the future. It seemed as if all the happiness that had once filled their home had gone out of it with a cold drift of wind. Jen wasn't sure if it was entirly Alex's fault, in fact, she was sure that it wasn't. All lot of it was her fault. She had been so happy to see her fiance alive that she had pushed Wes away, like a kid throws away a new and unwanted toy when it finds it's favorite old one again. She ahd thought things would go back to normal when Alex left, but the cold lingered on, and Jen couldn't understand why.

She stared at the picture, the same one that Alex had been so disgusted by during his brief visit. The same one that showed Wes kididng Jen's cheek. It was harmless fun, but the picture didn't show that. It only showed what it knew. Wes and Jen. His lips pressed to her cheek and her smiling as if this was what she had secretly wanted all along.

But it wasn't. As much as she wanted it to be, it wasn't. The truth of the matter was, she didn't know what she wanted anymore, but deep down she knew that it didn't matter. She couldn't have her way, not this time. Not when things had gone so horribly wrong.

Things would never be the same between her and Alex again. No matter how hard they tried the could never be the way they once were. So completely blinded by love. Sure, they could pretend that the last year had never happened, but Jen wasn't sure she could live a lie.

A lie…was that what it was?

She ran her thumb over the picture and placed it back on the table.

Wes was so different than Alex that it was scary. Physically, they were alike, but that was as far as the similarities went. Wes made her smile and she even found herself laughing at his stupid jokes. There was something warm and inviting about his smile. Something in it that made her feel safe and wanted. But a relationship with Wes was out of the question. He wasn't from her time and therefore had to stay behind when she left. In her time, Wes was dead. Nothing more than a distant and faded memory.

It was so unfair! She picked up the picture, slamming it picture-side-down onto the table she felt the first of many tears begin to fall. She knew she couldn't have either of them. It had taken her the better part of a year to unwittingly destroy everything that she held close to her heart. It never would have worked between her and Wes, and she could no longer look at Alex in that perfect light that she had always seen him in. He was her mentor, her savior, and now he had become something else. Something dark, something that she wasn't sure he was even aware of yet. Things had changed and she was alone.

Why? Thoughts were wirling around in her mind so fast that she felt as if her head would never stop spinning. Even the earth itself seemed to be spinning so fast that she feared she might go flying off into the dark, lonely vaccum of space. She laid her head down on her folded arms but held abck the rush of tears that threatned to overwhelm her. It wasn't until she heard a voice calling to her that she realized she had fallen asleep.

"Jennifer?"

She chanced a glance at the door, expecting to see Wes standing there, a look of concern etched upon his face, but the doorway was empty.

"Jennifer?"

Jen heaved a sigh. There were only two people who called her 'Jennifer'. One was her father,but she knew that was not his voice softly saying her name. She looked up and saw Alex staring at her from the computer screen.

"Jen? Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she lied, looking away to keep him from seeing the truth written upon her face. She busied herself with fixing her hair before staring at a fixed point well beyond the screen.

"Is something wrong, Alex?"

She heard the hesitation in his voice, "Jen, where are the others?"

"There out," she said simpliy.

"Oh." He seemed dissapointed. "When will they be back?"

"I don't know." She heard him sigh, and was suddnely irritated. "What do you want," she snapped, instantly regreting her tone.

"I—" he began, but at that precise moment the others entered the room.

Jen felt Trip plop down beside her on the bench as Alex began to speak. For a moment she let his words blur together. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she nearly missed the last part of the conversation.

"You must return."

"What about Wes?"

She actually saw a bit of regret in Alex's eyes. "Wes isn't from our time…."

Jen turned to look at the man standing by her. The time had come. She had to leave him behind. There was so much she wanted to say but she couldn't bring herself to utter a single word. The time for words had come and gone,and there was nothing left to say…

Nothing but goodbye….

Why was her life so unfair?


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