Chapter 2 :Trini

Rating/Disclaimer: See before

Author's Notes: I'm writing as quick as I can because I'm currently in the middle of packing all my earthly belongings to move house. And I know the time differences I calculated are wrong. I've spent all day carrying bags of books and magazines down two flights of stairs, so my brain is not mathematically inclined.

#2: I haven't actually seen the episode where Billy leaves. So any inaccuracies are my fault (as usual).

Thanks: Devon, hope you feel better soon! And red jacketed chica, calm down!! All will soon be revealed. But not in this chapter...

Code to inside Trini's head: *Alice's words* _Trini's thoughts_



There was only one film in the world that could make Trini cry. It wasn't even a sappy chick-flick genetically programmed to make all women cry and all men shake their heads and wonder why.

It was the scene in Armageddon where Ben Affleck goes off into the great beyond, leaving Liv Tyler's character behind, not knowing when he'll return.

If he'll return.

The first time she saw it was, unfortunately, just after she'd learned Billy had left for Aquitar. Watching it in a crowded room among the other delegates at the peace conference was, perhaps, not the best idea. Luckily, only Zack noticed her crying at the similarities to her situation.

Later on, he told her he knew instantly her reason for crying, although he didn't voice it in words for another couple of hours. He was too busy pointing out all the technical inaccuracies in the film, as only male ex- Rangers can.





She was crying because she never got the chance to say goodbye to her very own personal spaceman.

Billy.

Of course, Zack had to point out that she didn't actually admit her feelings to him, and now that he was apparently married to this fish-woman and living on another planet, there was little chance she ever could.

Jason, telephoning from Angel Grove, was a little more sympathetic, but not by much. At least he tried to give her practical advice - "He's not likely to come back, so I'd move on with my life if I were you. He was on of the best, but he's moved on."

There wasn't really much she could say in response. No matter how much she knew it was the truth, it simply wasn't what a broken-hearted girl wanted to hear, so she rang Kim for girly advice.

"There's no point in wishing for second chances," she said, sounding as depressed as Trini felt. "They never happen."

And although Trini didn't want to move on, it was inevitable. She couldn't exactly call the telephone operator and ask for a collect call to Aquitar, could she? And short of breaking all the rules and going out there herself, there was nothing else she could see to do.

She found herself thinking less and less of what had gone before, as time went on. She had boyfriends, lovers and even a short-lived engagement that lasted all of three months. The measuring to Billy's standards was never admitted by her, but none of them could seem to compare.

And all this comparing, and wondering, and daydreaming about what could have been... well, it led to her being alone on New Year's Eve, watching the rubbish television and drinking endless cups of coffee. She'd rung friends to see what their plans were, but either their answering machines were on, or she got no answer. Trini had the distinct feeling that more than one of them were screening their calls, but if they weren't in the mood for company, then so be it.

She certainly understood that feeling.

But it made things slightly more frightening when she heard strange noises coming from her backyard at about eleven thirty.

"Is anyone out there?" she called cautiously after leaving her comfortable post on her sofa. She stopped suddenly and said, "Fantastic, Trini. You're talking to the raccoons in your back yard again. Your New Year's Eve simply could not be any more pathetic."

"Oh, believe me, that's debatable," said an unexpected voice from behind her.

She swirled around, mentally thanking the gods that she'd kept up with her martial arts training over the years.

Trini was certainly expecting a more formidable opponent than a girl barely her age, with perfect blonde ringlets and white skin. She was dressed all in white and looking as though she could quite easily be an angel.

"And who might you be?" she asked, trying to calm her heart rate.

"I know enough about you to realise you won't believe the truth," the intruder said with a smile on her face. "If I told you I was a guardian angel, then you'd calmly reply with 'Get the hell out of my kitchen'."

Trini bit her lip to suppress a giggle. Whoever this person may be, she certainly had Trini's philosophy on life down pat. "You got that right, at least," she replied. "What's your name?"

"Alice. And you're Trini Marie Kwan, aged 23 years old, former Power Ranger and Youth Peace Conference delegate."

"Someone's been doing their research," Trini said coolly. _How the hell did she know I was a Ranger?_ "Explain to me again exactly why it is that you're here?"

"You might as well sit down, this could take a while if you're going to be this prickly about everything," Alice told her. Trini sat down on her sofa while Alice remained standing in the middle of the room. The light shining behind the stranger almost persuaded Trini that she was an angel, for a moment she could almost see a halo glistening. It disappeared as soon as it came.

"I don't need to feed you all that crap about how New Year's is a time for new beginnings and everything. You know as well as I do that people go on hating, hurting and killing whether it's New Year's day or slap-bang in the middle of July."

Trini nodded. She'd seen enough during her days as a Ranger to know that much was true. "Yeah. And?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Impatience will get you nowhere. Anyway as I was saying, I can't give you a new beginning, or a respite from all of the wars of the world. I haven't been an angel for that long, and that kind of thing's reserved for emergencies. What I deal in is second chances."

She was intrigued in spite of herself. "What kind of second chances?"

"I can give you precisely 24 hours. One day to relive again, from any period of your life that's gone before. If you want to be boring, you can simply relive the best moment of your life, then return back to the present day. You'll have changed absolutely nothing. Or - " Alice paused for maximum effect. "I can give you 24 hours where you did something you regret, or failed to do something that you now wished you'd done. And after those 24 hours are lived again, I'll appear and ask you whether you want to stay in this life that I created for you, or go back to the one you were originally given."

Trini finally remembered to close her open mouth, but soon she opened it again to ask, "It sounds pretty good and everything, but where's the catch? If I stay in the new life, will all my friends suddenly disappear or something evil? And why did you choose me?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders, and moved to sit beside Trini. "There is no catch. And you've been chosen because... well, you may have the materialistic things of life, the money, the car, the job, but the powers that be have noticed that you haven't exactly been the happiest bird in the tree lately. After all the good you've done for others, they figured that you needed a break from the monotony. So, here I am. Just think of me as your very own time-travelling machine. When'll it be?"

"Yeah, but I'm not the only one of my friends who isn't finding it easy to get out of bed each morning," Trini pointed out. The collective of ex- Rangers who had pocketed themselves in Angel Grove hadn't been happy recently, for various reasons. "Are you or your fellow angelettes going to see them too? If you're not, then I want to try to help them too."

"You always were the thoughtful one, weren't you?" Alice remarked, but pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "And I can see... well, there's you, obviously. Rocky DeSantos, Kimberly Hart, Tanya Sloan and Thomas Oliver, they're my only stops in Angel Grove tonight."

"Rocky? He was the only one of us who's even been approaching happy recently. What would he want to change?" Trini wondered out loud. Maybe it had been the weather, uncharacteristically Californian over the past few weeks, damp and rainy, but all five of them fivehadn't been filled with Christmas spirit, or indeed happiness for the New Year.

Alice shook her head, causing her unruly curls to fly everywhere. "Sorry, everything's strictly confidential. Angel business, you know." She folded the creased piece of paper and placed it back in her pocket. "I don't mean to pressure you, but I have to sort out all five of you with second chance scenarios, and you're my first target. And we're running out of time..."



_I could go back to when I was seven and we were all round at Uncle Howard's house. I tripped over and started a minor fire in his laboratory... Sure everyone said it wasn't my fault, but when I think of all the damage I caused...

_Oh god. Who am I even pretending to kid? I know exactly when I want my second chance. 24 May 1997. If I get straight on a plane in Geneva at midnight, I could be in California at... well, hopefully in enough time to stop him leaving. Or at least to tell him how I feel.

_And if I don't get there in time... at least I can say that I tried. I wouldn't feel so bitter that no-one told me about his leaving until so long afterwards._



"Trini, honey? I really need to get a decision out of you, pronto."

Trini snapped herself out of her morose thoughts, to see a slightly worried looking Alice straing back at her.

"You really are an angel, aren't you?|" she said wonderingly.

"Well if I'm not, you're going to wake up tomorrow morning and be out for my blood," Alice said with a smile on her face. "Am I right?"

"Something like that," Trini said, returning the smile. "I guess it'll have to be... May 24."

"1997?" Alice asked. Reading Trini's mind, she said "I kind of got a few points in the right direction from my superior. He figured that's when you'd ask for."

"So what happens now?" Trini asked. She was beginning to feel more than a little uncomfortable with the situation. Although she thought Alice was an angel, it wouldn't be the first time she'd believed other people's lies. She'd placed all her hopes on this stranger, and what if it all came to nothing so she woke up alone once more?

Alice pulled a small vial filled with liquid from another concealed pocket in her snow-white robes. "Well, you take the tiniest drop of this, and close your eyes. And I, you very own guardian angel, will transport you to 1997. Presumably you want to be taken to Geneva airport, ready to board a pre-arranged plane so you can proclaim your love to a certain genius?"

Not waiting for an answer, she placed a tiny drop of the murky orange liquid from a spoon left over from Trini's last cup of coffee, and gave it to Trini to drink. The last thing she heard was,

"Us angels are cleverer than we look, you know..."





24 May 1997

Alice had done good this time.

Trini somehow found herself standing in a queue in Geneva airport, presumably in line for a flight to California.

In her hands were her passport and tickets, and a small suitcase was standing beside her.

_Looks like this is it, then_ Trini thought to herself, as the line moved slowly forward. _No turning back, not now I've been given this second chance. I'm going to tell him how I feel, even if he ends up turning me down. At least if that happens, I can return back to the life where I never told him. No harm done... except to my pride._

The wait in between checking in and her flight being called was the closest thing to torture that she'd experienced outside of her days as a Ranger. This flight was one of the few permitted to take off in the early hours of the morning, because of the time difference, which meant that the airport was almost deserted.

Trini paced the airport for something to do, seeing as the kiosks selling books and things to eat were all closed as far as she could see. When she had first flown back to America after her stay in Switzerland, she had been so excited she could hardly sit still, and Zack had been forced to threaten her with sleeping pills so she would sit down. This time, she was alone, it wasn't as though she was returning home after two years away. She'd been back in California for four years, and she was 23 now, not 17. Although....

Trini looked at the length of her hair, a sure giveaway of her age. It was past her waist... so she must be back to her seventeen year old self. Although she was twentythree inside. How did that work?

Her thoughts were rudely cut off by the loudspeaker starting to crackle loudly.

"Attention ladies and gentlemen... American Airlines flight 497 will now be departing from gate 6.... all passengers for this flight please proceed to Gate 6 where we are ready for boarding."

She practically raced to Gate 6, ready for this show to be on the road. Even though she would be cooped up in a metal tube for the next thirteen or so hours, at least she would have the feeling of moving closer and closer to her second chance.

Things were starting to happen at last.



Sometime when the plane was travelling over the Atlantic Ocean, Trini began to wonder how exactly she was going to get from LA to Angel Grove. The journey was easily 3 hours on a good day, and she'd be arriving slap bang in the middle of morning rush hour.

_I suppose there are buses that go to Stone Canyon, and I can always hire a car if I don't have any money about my person,_ Trini thought to herself. _I have to get there somehow... and I don't suppose anyone knows about my coming back to America. No-one will be there to meet me._

Thirteen hours on the plane passed in roughly the same fashion. Trini thinking of many, many things that could go wrong with her plan, then being comforted by the same fact time and time again.

This wasn't her actual life she was risking. She could always return to her twenty-three year old self, and pretend that none of this had ever happened.

_And if things work out the way that I want them to... Alice wasn't exactly very forthcoming over what would happen if I wanted to stay in this parallel universe. Would my memory be wiped or what?_

*Of course we'd wipe your memory. You might need some money when you're fifty years old and sell your story to the National Enquirer. 'Angel Turns Up and I Find Love'. It'd be very sweet, but we don't want the world knowing we exist.*

_Alice? Can you tell me how exactly I'm going to get to Angel Grove from LA?_

*Oh, for god's sake.... you'll see when you get there. Now calm down, I've got to visit Rocky's head. He seems to think I'm his personal servant.*

Trini shook her head violently, causing several fellow passengers to stare at her confusedly. She smiled apologetically at them, and they smiled kindly at her.

_They probably think I'm going mad... hell, I think I'm going mad, so why shouldn't they? I wonder how everyone else will react to Alice turning up in their lives?_

Trini finally had something to think about other than her own situation. How would her friends second chances turn out?



*LA, 7am local time*



It was practically a miracle, but the flight had landed half an hour ahead of schedule. The ladies sitting across the aisle from Trini didn't regard it as a miracle, however. Both were unable to sleep on planes, and had spent almost the entire journey trying desperately to analyse Trini's facial expressions.

There had been the laughter when she imagined Rocky going back to a time when he'd entered an All You Can Eat competition, hoping to eat even more. There had been the wishes that either Kim or Tommy would return to the time of their breakup and rectify the situation. And there had been the bewilderment at what Tanay's problem would be.

Trini knew nothing of the ladies' fascination with her, and walked into the airport concourse with more than a niggling feeling of wonder at what she would find there.

She hadn't expected a huge gathering of all her friends, but then again, she hadn't expected a personal driver to be holding up a cardboard sign saying "Trini Kwan", either.

"Miss Kwan? I'm Sven. Angel Grove is your destination?" Slight Scandinavian accent, she noticed. In with the angels? She wouldn't be surprised.

"Yes, please. How long will it take us to get there?"

The tall blond man consulted his watch. "It is 7.15 now... I say about two hours, we miss most of the traffic if we leave now."

"Lead the way."



*Angel Grove, 9.30*



Sven had dropped her off in the outskirts of town, by Trini's request. She had no idea where Billy or anyone would be if they weren't at school, and she knew that security had been tightened since she'd left. Despite being a former student, she had a strong feeling she wouldn't be let into the school without some sort of pass.

So, there was time to spare, after all. Her suitcase was barely heavier than a flea, and was hardly a burden. It swung by her side as she strolled the streets of the town she'd left behind not so long ago.

Trini passed the park, with a brief smile for the memories of the football games and picnics that had been held there over the years. Of course, in her 'normal' life, she drove past the park every day on her way to work, but it was as though she was seeing it through new eyes today.

Checking the time, she noticed that there were at least 5 hours before her friends would be released from school. As her eyes left the glass casing of her watch and returned to her surroundings, she caught the eye of an old man standing across the road from her.

_Billy_. Even in his older form, there was simply no mistaking him. And from the startled expression on his face, he'd apparently noticed her, too.

She crossed the road, immediately. As she did, a thought suddenly came into her head.

_Do I tell him how I got here? Not the plane, but the angel help? He's one of us, he'd understand..._

*No. Whatever you do, keep me and what I did a secret. Not even for him.*

Trini was about to reply, when Billy spoke. "What... Trini? Why are you here?"

Trini cleared her throat and shuffled her feet a little. Now that her moment was here, she was about to lose her nerve. "I... um, heard about what was. What had happened. I came to see if there was anything I could do to help."

Billy smiled, not as sad as many of his smiles had been recently. "It's great to see you again, even if I do wish it could be in better circumstances." he said self-deprecatingly, gesturing to his wrinkled hands.

"What happened?" she asked, even though it was a story she had heard many times before. Never had she heard it told by Billy.

So he explained, about how he had been saving his colleagues, but eventually caused his own downfall. Not once in the entire story did he show any regret in what he had done. Billy seemed to accept this as a quirky turn of fate.

After the story was over, there was an awkward pause between them. Billy broke it, but saying

"Why are you really here, Trini? You couldn't exactly have said to the people at the Peace Conference that your old friend had suddenly aged fifty years and you had to go and say goodbye."

Trini cleared her throat, and looked down at the floor. "No, I couldn't exactly say that," she agreed. "But... I could say that the man I love might be leaving me, and I came to say goodbye."

Her voice trailed off so dramatically at the end of her sentence that Billy couldn't believe that he had heard what he thought he had. The spluttering that came from his mouth had nothing to do with old age. "You... you love? Love me?"

"Yeah." There was a half-smile playing aound Trini's face, partly because she was nervous, and partly because she couldn't believe that after all this time, she had finally said the words she longed to say.

"But...but Trini, they can't find a cure for me. I'm going to have to go to Aquitar to get a cure, and that could take years." Billy had a half smile on his face also, but he looked more worried that ecstatic. "I mean.... I love you too, but there's no way we can be together!"

"They'll find a cure for you in no time," Trini reassured Billy, having the advantage over him in that she already knew part of the outcome. "And you'll be able to come back, and I'll finish off the year here... I don't want to go back to Switzerland, not without you."

Billy could hardly take in what was going on. As soon as he aged fifty years, his childhood sweetheart travelled halfway across the world to profess her love. To give up her future for him. As much as he loved her... "I can't ask you to do that for me, Trini. You'd be giving up one of the greatest opportunities..."

"Billy, stop making excuses. I passed up the greatest opportunity when I left for Switzerland, because I didn't tell you how I felt then. I had to wait until you were almost dying..."

Their perfect moment was interrupted by the vision of a slightly breathless Alice over Billy's shoulder. Trini's mouth dropped, and her eyes quickly turned to Billy. But Billy's stare was vacant, and she realised that Alice had somehow managed to stop time.

Well, why not. She could go back and forwards in time, so why not stop it altogether.

"Alice, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here for another... what, 6, 7 hours?" Trini said angrily. "We were just getting somewhere."

"Believe me, I didn't want to interrupt your tender moment, but things had hit an unexpected bump in the road, hence we cut off your time in the parallel universe. And I need a decision."

"What? Now? When I don't even know how he feels?" Trini questioned. "I could end up making the completely wrong decision, and then I'd sue your ass."

Alice grinned. "You can't sue me, I'm your angel," she pointed out. "But if I were you, I'd stay. Even if he turned you down, you can rebuild your life the way you did before. Things wouldn't be all that different."

Trini sighed, and all the energy seemed to be sapped out of her with that one sigh. "You have no idea how much that took out of me," she said softly. "I don't think I could go through that again..."

"I know, honey, but it was your choice to come here. You could have gone back to your seven year old self, and not started the fire..." Trini looked at her, startled. "Oh yeah. How do you think I got into your mind in the first place? I can read your mind as easily as a book."

"Well, that's reassuring," she muttered.

"Not as reassuring as your decision will be. Now would be a good time..."Alice pressured.

Trini sighed, and looked once again at Billy's stone-like form standing next to her. In her heart, she knew there was only one decision she could make....



A/N (yes, again!) Sorry for the annoying yet strangely formulaic cliffhanger. I'm getting to work on the 3rd chapter already.