Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Oracle/Barbara Gordon belong to DC Comics/Time Warner.
Tony Newman, Doug Phillips, and Ann MacGregor belong to Irwin Allen Productions.
I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Gaby, Rick, Norman, and any others you don't recognize are mine.
Rated PG-13 : Crude language; violence; sexual references.
The end of another story. I've been really overwhelmed by the response to this one, just glad so many of you seemed to enjoy it. Special thanks to Cecilia as always for beta reading, and Jenny for encouragement. My gratitude to everyone who read this, to those who reviewed, and especially those who reviewed regularly and made valuable comments. You know who you are. Reviews are what let me know if I'm on the right track. Thank you.
"Hey, look who's with us again." Eric blinked, his mind refusing to focus at first, eyes moving around the room to fix on Nightwing, standing near his bed.
They were in the Silver Guardians infirmary, a place he usually disliked. The sight of it was welcome now. A glance down at himself showed a strange contraption, wire leads stuck onto his skin at chest and arm, feeding into a small box covered with controls. Instantly he recognized it as a Time Force medical unit. It was doing its job. The swelling in his arm was already decreasing, and the redness around his wounds had faded visibly, the pain now only a healing ache.
"What happened?" he asked groggily.
"We got out alive, is what happened. Just barely."
"How do you feel?" He heard Gaby's voice and turned his head to see her in a seat on the other side of the bed, her face and clothes smudged with soot.
"Gaby…" he said. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. We were worried about you for a while."
"Don't be." Her hand was already holding his. He tightened his grip and pulled her a little closer. "I feel just fine, now," he said softly. They shared a happy smile for a few seconds, until a less pleasant thought struck him. "Wes," he said. "Tony and Doug..."
"We're all fine," he heard a familiar voice say. As he looked back up, two more faces came into view. Wes and Jen, holding hands and smiling down at him.
Wes grinned. "Hey, partner. Glad to have you back."
"You too, Wes. Jen. You okay?"
"Fine. Alex showed up to get us right after you disappeared." He saw Alex step up behind them, giving him a nod and a restrained smile. And a tall man wearing a mask and cape appeared over Nightwing's shoulder, looking him over with a coldly blank expression.
Eric stared at him for a moment and then looked back to Wes. "What happened to Norman? Did you get him?"
Wes frowned. "No sign of him. The building was completely destroyed in the fire. No one saw him get out. When what's left has cooled down, we can start looking for a body."
"Hmm. Too bad. But I can't say I'm really sorry for him." He glanced at Gaby, then back at the others. "Norman said that time machine brought me back here, but why? And why just me?"
"I think I can answer that," Alex said. "Rick's time machine was programmed to send him to the same time Tony Newman and Doug Phillips were stranded in. Then, after a few minutes, it was supposed to bring the three of them back automatically. But when he triggered the machine during the cyclobot attack, there were four people within range for it to transport. It was only set up for a maximum of three. It took them to the wrong time."
"We were also in the late Cretaceous," Jen said. "It looked exactly the same as the time you, Wes, Tony, and Doug were in. But it wasn't."
"Very close, but not exactly the same. The transport was only off by a few thousand years. Not much time in terms of Earth's history, but…"
"That's why we didn't see any trace of each other," Wes added.
"Right. Rick's machine detected the malfunction, and tried again, by restarting its transport cycle. This time Wes and Eric were in range. It sent them to the correct time, where they found Tony and Doug."
"Why didn't it bring us back then?" Eric asked.
"It ran out of power at that point. Norman's cyclobots unplugged it and took it. Later, when he hooked it up to a power source and reactivated it in his factory, it picked up where it left off and tried to retrieve you. But you, Wes, Tony and Doug were not in one place at the time, you were spread out on that path; Wes at the bottom, Tony and Doug at the top. My theory is that it simply picked up the person in the middle."
"Which was me."
"Right."
"Hey," Wes exclaimed. "I thought time travel could only happen in certain fixed jumps, always at least a hundred years or so. If Tony and Doug came from 1968, how could we have jumped to the same time they were in?"
"I've been in contact with Time Force command. They managed to find some information about the Time Tunnel technology. It used a different principle from our timehole generators. It didn't have that restriction, it could transport to any time. Unfortunately, as Tony and Doug found out, it was unreliable. Time jumps were often unpredictable. That method of time travel was never used again."
"Where are Tony and Doug now?"
Wes took over with a smile. "In the Guardians' barracks, probably getting a shower and a good meal. After we got back, we sent them here and went to Norman's factory. We accidentally started that fire. Searched the building as long as we could, then we got out, and found the four of you outside."
"How'd you know I was there?"
"We didn't. Batman told us that was where Gaby and Nightwing probably were. You were a bonus."
Nightwing grinned at him. "Yeah, Batman was already on his way out here. When I didn't report in, he called the Guardians."
Eric looked up to stare at Batman, seeing an expression of icy disapproval. He lifted an eyebrow briefly with a hint of disdain to cover the fact that he was impressed. Very impressed. Then, to his surprise, the other man smiled and held out his hand.
"A pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Nightwing's is a friend of mine. He's told me good things about you."
Feeling slightly dazed -- which he was careful to hide -- Eric withdrew his good hand from Gaby and shook. "I assume you're the one who hauled my ass out of there," he said.
"That's right."
"Well, thanks."
"Yeah," Nightwing added, looking up at his former partner. "Thanks for getting here so fast, and for bailing us out."
"Anytime. You know that." Again a smile appeared on that stern face.
Eric's eyes moved back to Nightwing. "Any friend of yours, huh? So now you think we're friends."
"Yeah, I think so. Even if you tried to kick my butt at that warehouse…"
"Would have, too."
"In your dreams, pal."
"Just wait'll I'm back in fighting shape."
"Like to, but we're leaving tonight."
"So soon?" Eric was surprised to find he was disappointed.
"I was supposed to be home yesterday. I've got… certain commitments."
"Speaking of which, we should go," Batman said softly.
"He hates to socialize," Nightwing said with a rueful smile. "We just stayed long enough to make sure you're okay." He held out his hand.
"So long, again," Eric said. "Take care of that girl of yours. And thanks for your help. Both of you."
"See you sometime." He smiled at Gaby. "Nice meeting you too. I admire a woman who can put up with this guy."
She laughed. "He's really just an old softie at heart." With a shy glance at Batman she added, "It was a real honor to meet both of you."
They all turned and started away, stopping at the doorway for final goodbyes. Eric watched them exchange a few remarks and shake hands, before Batman and Nightwing disappeared out the door. Then he turned to Gaby again, taking her hand, his face becoming serious.
"Norman… did he -- did he do anything to you?"
"No. My virtue is still intact. Such as it is."
He smiled at her, watched her smile back as she leaned closer. "Old softie, huh?" he murmured, fingers lightly touching her cheek. "Get everyone out of here and lock the door, and I'll show you what a softie I am…"
"Love to… but -- frankly -- you could use a shower."
"You smell more like an ashtray than a rose yourself." He grinned and pulled her down for a kiss. "But I don't mind…"
"This is it." Wes turned off the ignition. He got out of the car and gazed across the street at the house. It was nice, on the large side, comfortable looking, with a rust-colored door and off-white siding. Tony and Doug got out more slowly, and stood looking.
"This is going to be strange," Tony said.
Doug looked and sounded nervous. "Very strange. For her as well as us."
"Well, no point in standing here. Let's go." Wes led the way across the street, up the short walkway, and to the door. He rang the bell and smiled at his companions as they fidgeted uncomfortably.
The door opened to reveal Rick, smiling wide. He greeted them and stood aside to let them enter. Standing behind him, looking at least as nervous as Tony and Doug, was a woman in late middle-age, tall, still slender and good-looking, her short black hair liberally streaked with gray. Lieutenant Quinn stood beside her, his dark face blank, her hand firmly in his. She didn't even look at Wes, her eyes going to Tony and then Doug, her lips trembling slightly as she smiled. Silently Tony stepped up to hug her, then Doug was holding her tight.
"Tony… Doug… You don't know how good it is to see you," she murmured, voice cracking a little, eyes glimmering with tears.
"Ann…" Doug said. "It's wonderful to see you. It's been so long…"
"Thirty-five years, for me," she sighed. "For you it's only been..."
"Almost two years," Tony supplied.
"I had given up, long ago. Resigned myself to the idea that both of you were gone forever. That I would never even know what happened to you…" She sniffled, smiling shakily as a tear found its way down her cheek.
"They told us how hard you tried, Ann," Tony said gently. "And it was your son who saved us."
"Yes. Rick." She reached a hand to touch Rick's arm. "You met my son at Bio-Lab. And this is my husband, Robert Quinn."
They all shook hands. Doug smiled, although Wes thought he saw more than a trace of regret in his face. "Strange to think of you being married, with a grown son," he said.
Ann glanced at Quinn apologetically. He smiled and nodded. "I know," she said. "Sometimes I thought you and I… but I guess it wasn't meant to be. And that was a long time ago. Robert and I have been married for twenty-eight years now." She took her husband's arm and smiled tremulously again. "Wouldn't know it to look at the two of you. Still so young…"
"You look great, Ann," Tony said.
She laughed. "Still the ladies' man. Nice to know some things haven't changed."
There was a brief silence, until Doug turned to Rick. "I don't think we've actually thanked you yet. You saved our lives, and we're both very grateful."
Rick shrugged, looking both embarrassed and pleased. "I'm just glad I could help. But I'm sorry it went wrong the way it did." He glanced at Wes.
"Yeah, well," Wes said with a grin. "Everything turned out okay. Eric's already well enough to go home. And Dr. Zaskin still hasn't stopped talking about how exciting it was to see real dinosaurs. Even if they almost ate him."
"He's a real scientist, all right. I wonder if he'll try to write a paper about it."
"I hope not. Can't let the whole world find out about time travel."
"Alex said we can't say anything either," Tony agreed. "He said we're outside our own time now, and we have to keep a low profile to avoid interfering with history."
Ann turned to him and Doug again. "Have you decided what you're going to do now?"
"Not yet," Tony said. "Our parents are gone now..." He paused, blinking for a moment. "The rest of our families, our friends -- we can't contact them. No way to explain what happened."
"We were both declared legally dead years ago," Doug said. "Officially we don't exist."
"I can help with that," Wes said. "Or Bio-Lab can. My father will hire both of you as scientists, if you want. And either way, he'll get you new identities, and help you get back on your feet."
"Thanks. But I'm not sure how useful we'd be. We're both thirty-five years behind in our field." Tony glanced at Doug. "We have a lot to catch up on."
"We can decide all that later," Doug replied. "We have time." He smiled. "Right now it just feels good to have a future to worry about."
It had been over a week now, and they were still picking up the pieces, still making repairs in the Bio-Lab laboratory that had been attacked, some of them still healing from their wounds. Wes watched Eric move impatiently through the rubble of Norman Ryder's burned-out factory. He smiled, glad to see his partner back on the job, and looking so well. A very slight stiffness was the only sign of what he had been through. Before he left, Alex had said there would not even be any permanent scars.
Gaby's situation was worse, in a way. There was no sign of Norman's body, no evidence that he had died in that fire. As the days went by with no news, she had become nervous, and begun to show a reluctance to be alone. And Eric had quietly started to spend more time with her, staying at her apartment or bringing her to his house every night and weekend that he was free. He had also started having a couple of Guardians follow her and watch her building whenever he couldn't be with her himself.
"What's wrong?"
Wes turned his head to find Jen's face smiling at him. She was there officially, as a Silver Hills PD detective, keeping an eye on evidence collection. He reached a hand, and clasped hers when she took it. "What makes you think anything's wrong?"
"You were frowning."
He sighed. "It's starting to look like Norman got away, alive."
"I know." She turned to look out over the destroyed building. "I wouldn't wish anyone dead, especially in a fire, but…"
"But Norman could mean more trouble."
"Yes." She was quiet, stepping closer to him as he rested an arm around her shoulders, and then went on softly. "Rick's time machine was destroyed in the fire, and he swore never to build another one. But Norman knows about it. Gaby said he was studying it. That could be big trouble."
"I know." Wes sighed again.
"I feel bad for Gaby, having to wonder if he's going to pop out of some dark corner and grab her again someday."
"And Eric. He doesn't show it, but I can tell he's worried."
"Here he comes."
They watched Eric pick his way out of the ruins and head for them. He greeted them with nods, but no smile. "Still nothing," he said, and turned to look back. "I think he's alive. He's out there somewhere, thinking about revenge."
"Eric, maybe Gaby's not the only one who needs protection. He probably has more of a grudge against you than me or Jen…"
"I can take care of myself."
"What about Nightwing?"
Eric glanced at them. "I called him. But he's all the way on the other side of the country. Besides, no one knows who he really is, no one's going to attack him at home. Maybe he and Batman have the right idea, keeping their identities secret."
"Maybe."
"Eric…" Jen started. When he turned to look at her she went on. "We're always here if you need us. You can always ask for help."
"I know." His face warmed for a moment before he glanced away. "Anything new with the wedding plans?" he asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Well, I had a lot of time to think, back in that cave. Kind of got my priorities straight," Wes said. "I think we should get our own house, like Jen said, and get married in the winter."
Jen turned to face him. "But Wes, you were right in the first place. We should stay with your father. He's family. That's the most important thing. And a spring wedding would be so beautiful…"
"Do you really want to wait that long? And we need to be on our own, in our own place, just the two of us, independent -- until we start having kids…"
"There's no rush. And your dad has done so much for us, I really don't want to leave him alone… that's such a big, beautiful house, why should we leave?"
"But Jen, honey…"
"Wes, sweetheart…"
"Oh, Christ," Eric muttered. "Sorry I bought it up. If you two lovebirds will excuse me…"
