Second Chances #3

Disclaimer/Rating: As before.

A/N: Sorry for delay, I've been busy becoming LOTR-obsessed. And, you know, working for a living.

Thank you's: Girl In Red (Orlando Bloom!!), Devon, Ophelia North and Ibonekoen, thanks for reviewing the last chapter.





New Year's Eve.

Just another day.

She really didn't see anything positive about the new year at all. A chance to start again? Some say that, but not her.

After all, she'd had more than one chance to start all over again. And whenever she'd taken them, they'd end up going horribly wrong.

Take the moving across the country thing, to become a world class gymnast. It had sounded good on paper, but in reality?

What fun that turned out to be. breaking her ankle in three places wasn't exactly the way to endear herself to the selectors of any teams.

Then again... she seriously doubted she'd have chosen to become a nurse if it hadn't been for the care that she'd received while in hospital.

Moving back to California - a decision which she had thought would have brought her happiness, was so far turning out to be strangely neutral.

She'd had the idea that being back in the town where she'd spent most of her childhood years would have somehow magically turned her life back into its happy state it had held before.

Things hadn't turned out like that... not yet, anyway. She had returned in September to find her friends in some kind of stupor, wrapped up in their own lives, their own problems.

Adult life didn't have the same tendency to work itself out in the same way as their teenage years had.



Nurse Kim Hart stood at a payphone, checking her messages during a break in her shift. Three messages from Trini proclaiming that no-one was in, and what was everyone doing with their New Year's to be unable to answer the phone, anyway?

"Working, Trini, that's what I'm doing," she said quietly into the receiver. "Some of us have to earn our living in more menial jobs than publishing."

She hung up the phone, and sighed, not wanting to leave the general peace of the staffroom just yet. New Year's Eve was traditionally a time for many patients, and this year was to be no different. She was lucky to be able to take a break at all, what with the influx of minor injuries streaming into the hospital every minute. But she was there, with a cup of tea to be drunk before she even thought of stepping back into the ward again.

"It's a hard life, isn't it?" someone asked jovially. Although Kim hadn't heard anyone follow her into the staffroom, she presumed it must be the voice of one of her colleagues, so she replied without turning around,

"Doesn't get much harder than a New Year's Eve, I can tell you that for sure."

"It's the time of year that makes you wish you had a second chance, wouldn't you say?" the same person replied.

Thinking this was a little too deep for a fellow nurse or doctor also in the middle of their shift, Kim turned around, and came face to face with the same person who had left Trini in 1997 only moments before.

"Second chances don't exist," Kim said tiredly, taking another sip of her tea. "Or at least, they say they do, but they're really another time for us to fail again."

"I see I've found another person who's lost their faith in humanity over the festive season," she remarked. "Can't you become the innocent person you once were, Kim?"

Kim's eyes widened. She'd never seen this woman before, and yet she knew her name, and about her once-optimistic personality. "How do you know my name?" seemed the most obvious question to ask, so she asked it.

"When you're someone's guardian angel, it normally helps if you memorise their name," she told Kim. "And it would probably help if you knew mine as well. I'm Alice."

Kim stood up. "You've obviously got a concussion," she told Alice. "There's no such thing as angels."

"Well, I'd revise that belief if I were you. Otherwise you'd be terribly worried when I told you I'd just deposited your friend Trini Kwan in 1997, ready for her second chance."

Involuntarily, Kim sat down again. "Once more, with explanation?"

Alice rolled her eyes. "You two are both as sarcastic as each other. My name is Alice, and I've been sent here to give you and some of your friends second chances. I give you twentyfour hours from any period of your life, and you can use them to relive them, or change them, whatever you please. Then... you decide whether you want to stay in the world I helped you to create, or come back to this world, where you're a dissatisfied nurse wondering where all your chances in life disappeared to."

"I'm not dissatisfied!" Kim protested, even though a tiny voice somewhere inside her head was telling her she'd been unhappy ever since the succession of injuries three years ago. "I just... I never pictured my life turning out the way it has. That doesn't mean I don't like my life."

"It doesn't matter about that, although in my opinion it's all the more reason to believe that I really am your very own personal angel, and to go for the second chance," Alice pointed out.

"I already had second chances. Each time I took one, I was as gutless as the first," Kim said morosely. "So, I believe you're an angel now, is that what you want to hear? And as your personal, um, person to guide, I think you should go and find someone who wouldn't waste their second chance. Wouldn't that be easier?"

Alice shook her head from side to side. "I admire your selflessness, but I'm going to stick around until you give me a date to take you back to. The powers that be... well, they can't actually kill me again, but they can make my life as an angel pretty unpleasant if you refuse to take your chance. Plus, it would probably torment you if you passed this opportunity up. All those thoughts about what might have been...

Kim inclined her head to show she was considering what Alice had said. "So, you can really give me the chance to go back to any time of my life? No restrictions or anything?"

"None whatsoever. You can go back to when you were two years old, or something a little more recent. It's completely up to you, but you'll have to think pretty sharply. I've got more people to sort out with chances after you, and thanks to Trini I'm running late already."

"Who else are you going to see?" Kim asked curiously. Like Trini, she was well aware that their group of friends had gone without momentous luck in their lives for longer than they cared to remember.

"I've already seen Trini, then on to your ex-significant other, Rocky, and Tanya. Soon, hopefully, if you'll ever make a decision and let us get out of here," Alice pressured impatiently, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. "I'd prefer to get this over and done with by midnight, if at all possible."

"How did you know- oh never mind, I suppose it comes with the territory of being an agel," Kim realised Alice must kow more about her than even she did. It would figure that she knew all about past relationships. "And I suppose you know exactly where I'm going to want to go, but you want me to figure it out for myself?"

"You're catching on with this angel business," Alice smiled. "But no, I can't take you anywhere unless I'm expressly instructed by you. So...think on your feet."



_I could do the whole 'Stop my parents divorcing' thing, and go back to when I was about nine or ten. If I got both of my parents to promise that they'd never split up, then I could hold them to it. Then they'd never get divorced... but I guess, despite all the rough patches it put our family through, everything's worked out for the best. My mom's safely settled in Paris, where she can't control meso much, and my dad's in Seattle with his supermodel wife.

_There's always the day I broke my ankle... 13th August, 1997. If I had been more careful that day on the vault, I'd maybe get the chance to go to the Olympics. And if I won a medal, I wouldn't have to work for a living, and I could go to live abroad again. But...

_Even though I complain like hell, I still really like being a nurse. It brought me back down to earth after being imprisoned in a gymnastics compound for two years, and i'm helping people. I must have been designed to always help others..._

"Kim? Decision? Preferably now!"

_Oh, God. When? Where? And why me?_

It wasn't a date that would affect her parent's relationshiip, or even her career. But she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it sooner. It was, after all, the worst decision she'd ever made in her life. Full stop. One that had never quite managed to rectify itself, either.

"8th February. 1996."

Alice smiled in a self-satisfactory way.

"Let me guess. That was one of the top dates on your list."

"The top date, in fact, surrounded by stars and glittery sparkles," Alice confirmed. "If you hadn't chosen somewhere around that time, I'd have thought there was something extremely wrong with you."

"I'm glad to hear that I have your approval, then." Kim replied, suddenly, and for no apparent reason, feeling light-hearted.

The 8th of February was the day when she hadn't had anyone to turn to. The day when she'd let all of her insecurities weigh her down, and decided to write The Letter.

Trini thought she was mad for doing such an extreme thing, but at the time, Kim's reasoning had been that things couldn't have been much worse. Her suspicions about the attraction between Tommy and Kat had been growing every day, and it didn't seem fair that she should tie him down if he needed to break free. So... the breakup.

If she didn't write the letter, the knock-one effects of her decision could very well lead to a happier life.

"Okay, now that you've chosen - finally - you just drink a spoonful of my wonderful orange goop, and you'll be back in 1996, with 24 hours to change your world." Alice grinned, and found her vial filled with the liquid. "I guess there's a spoon around here somewhere, what with all the liquids you guys drink?"

"Yeah, over by the sink there should be... wait a minute? If I go back to 1996, won't I disappear from this world as well? And I'm supposed to be working for 4 more hours, it's pretty likely they'll notice something's wrong."

"You obviously aren't an expert on angels and their powers," Alice said as she glided over to the sink and retrieved a clean spoon from the tiny sink in the corner of the room. "If you were, you'd know that we can each stop time in the present day so that up to 5 parallel lives can be led at a time."

"Is that why you only chose 5 of us? Presumably you know that there are more of my friends who aren't exactly extolling the joys of spring?" Kim asked Alice as she was given the spoon filled with orange liquid.

"They'll have another angel than me, but I only know about you five. Now hurry up and drink," she looked at the clock again, "otherwise I won't be able to see the rest of your friends by midnight," Alice rushed her.

Kim made a face as she looked at the less than attractive liquid lurking in the spoon. But, against her better judgement, she swallowed.



*8th February 1996*

She remembered the old routine so well, she automatically woke up at the right time.

The right time being, of course, 5:30am.

Kim wondered at the unusual feeling she had at being seventeen again. _I feel.... younger, but then again, shouldn't I have the same mind as I did a minute ago? Or 5 and a half hours ago? I don't know. All I know is, I'm confused. Very confused. And my alter-ego has a cold._

*Atchoo!*

"So, you're still sneezing, then," her roommate Erika said, looking over at Kim from her bed across the room. "Great excuse for you to get out of practise!"

"Yeah, I guess," Kim said, adding a croak to her voice for extra authenticity. "I think I'll go back to sleep."

"I'll tell Coach you're still not right," Erika announced as she pulled her bedcovers down. "You'd be as well to get some sleep. That should make you feel better."

Kim didn't respond to Erika's advice, she was too busy figuring out what she should do.

5.30 in Florida meant 2.30 in California. And despite however much she as a 17 year old needed to speak to her far away boyfriend, she was not going to wake him up at 2.30 in the morning.

_I might take Erica's advice and sleep for a while,_ Kim thought drowsily. _I always knew she was a smart cookie..._



Kim slept for rather longer than she had intended. A quick nap had turned into a long doze, and it was almost two in the afternoon before she woke up. And that hadn't been by natural means, as her first sight was of Alice, bending before her and looking worried.

"Alice? Why? I didn't sleep for twenty-four hours, did I?" Kim asked, sitting up and wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"No, it's ten to two. But listen, we've run into problems. Something's gone all screwy with the timing of the entire thing, Trini's only been in 1997 for five minutes, and Rocky's been wherever he's been for over 24 hours. Ring Tommy, leave a message on his answering machine saying you need to talk to him asap, then I'll collect all your friends so you can make a decision."

"That's impossible! How am I supposed to make a decision when I haven't even made this life better or worse yet?" Kim protested. Even her sneeze after her speech sounded angry. "And can't you get rid of this cold?"

"He might be in when you ring," Alice pointed out. "You may find they had the day off school, and there aren't any unwelcome visitors on Earth this particular day."

Kim just groaned, and picked up the phone.

It rang for three rings, then a voice that answered said, "Hello?"

Kim looked at Alice. "How did you know?" she mouthed silently. Alice just shrugged her shoulders innocently, and grinned.

"Hey, Tommy, it's me," Kim said, feeling suddenly as though she were sick with nerves.

"Kim? Why aren't you at practise? How did you know I was home?" Tommy sounded genuinely pleased to hear from his girlfriend, as you would expect him to be. Nothing untoward had happened... yet.

"I didn't know you'd be at home, I was going to leave a message," she explained. "And I've got a cold, so they gave me the day off. Or I fell asleep and they didn't want to wake me, I'm not sure which."

"Well, that's great! I mean," Tommy hastily corrected himself. "Not that you're ill. But that we can have a conversation for the first time in ages. We haven't had the time for so long, and it feels like..."

"It feels like you're slipping away from me," Kim said quietly, so quietly that she didn't know whether Tommy had heard her, but it was true. All the emotions of this day so long ago came flooding back, and it was true what her boyfriend had just said.

What with his 'after-school job', and her training, they simply hadn't talked. It had been answerphone messages, and instructions left with roommates or parents.

_No wonder Tommy found it so easy to believe that there had been another guy..._

"Yeah," Tommy said equally quietly. "I don't want to lose you, Kim. Even if it means me coming to Florida after school finishes."

"I don't want you giving up your life for me," Kim insited, forgetting that she was supposed to be twenty-three, forgetting that there was an angel in the room who had given her this second chance. "If it means me coming back to California for us to stay together, then I'll do it."

"We can work something out," Tommy replied, as Kim had a coughing fit to cover up the fact that Alice was bouncing up and down to indicate it was time to go. "Beautiful? Are you okay?"

Kim suddenly smiled. "I'm better than I was, but I think I'd better go. my cold medicine is making me sleepy, and this call's going to cost me a fortune."

Tommy sighed relcutantly. "Okay then. I hope you feel better soon."

"So do I.... I love you."

"Love you too."

Kim hung up the phone, but before she could even smile at the way the conversation had turn out, Alice grabbed her hand, and the Florida bedroom disappeared before her eyes.