Chapter 15
"You what?" she asked softly.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I thought it was all in the past!" he said hurriedly. "Besides, would you have believed me if you hadn't met them?"
Jessica had to admit she wouldn't have. "So, you were a Power Ranger," she muttered. She felt lightheaded, dizzy and confused, as if she was in a weird dream. "Anything else I need to know right now?"
"You need to know, that no matter what you may think after this, I love you." Jessica noted the strange emphasis he put on the word 'you'.
"What is it you are not telling me?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears.
So many things went through Wes's head at that moment. Jen, Alex, his morpher, which was locked in a box in the basement with pictures of the other Rangers, his adventures, but the first thought kept coming back. The love he had once declared he felt for Jen. Would Jessica believe he loved her for who she was if she found out about Jen? He decided to leave that conversation for the next day, after the press conference.
"I've told you pretty much everything," he said, smiling at her.
She stared at him for a while, but she didn't feel like being angry at her husband that afternoon, so she just switched places, to sit next to him and buried her face in his neck. "Well, if that's it, perhaps when we get home, we can do that thing you like so much," she whispered in his ear. "What is it you call it when you take all my clothes off?" she asked in a fake ignorant tone.
"Love-making," he answered, wrapping his arm around her. He turned to face her and saw a shine in her green eyes he had never seen before.
"Oh, yes," she said as she tenderly rubbed her nose against his. "I'd like to do some of that," she admitted.
Wes smiled at her for an instant. Where had she learned so suddenly to be so tender and sexy and playful? He decided he didn't care. "Well, you can have as much of it as you want," he promised and leaned in to kiss her.
This time, and it made him feel even worse about the information he was keeping from her, she didn't tense, but actually relaxed in his arms and followed the rhythm of his lips in the kiss, making it long and passionate.
"I love you, Wesley," she muttered dreamily, her eyes closed, the expression on her face showing how much pleasure she was having with her new romantic attitude.
"And I love you, Jessica," he said, his eyes closed as well, his forehead pressed against his wife's. The words came from his heart. The heart that was crushed by guilt moments before now flew free with its love. He knew, suddenly, he could convince her that his heart was hers.
***********************************
Jen half moaned. "Alex," she whispered, into her husband's ear.
"Yes?" he asked, not stopping his loving attack on her breasts.
"I love you," she said plainly. He looked up at her eyes.
"I love you too," he said softly, burying his face in her breasts again, kissing them softly.
"I want to thank you," she said then.
"For what?" he asked moving his kisses lower, to her abdomen.
"For making me so very happy," she told him. He chuckled against her soft skin and kissed her belly. "I'm sorry that's empty," she said.
"Hey, we'll have our children eventually," he assured her, now kissing her softly all around her belly button, with a fast succession of small kisses.
"Yeah, I guess," she said, relaxing. No point in worrying about their children, or about Wes and Jessica. She sat on the bed, decided to give her husband back some of the affection and pleasure he was giving her.
*****************************
Jessica sat on the bed, nervously. This wasn't the first time she and Wes had had sex, but certainly it was going to be the first time they made love. He approached her and kissed her. She returned the kiss, the way she had read in the magazines she had sometimes read in the beauty salon, when she had nothing to work on. She felt his kisses trailing down from her mouth to her neck, as his hands began tugging with the tail of her shirt.
She took a deep breath and tried to relax reminding herself that, no matter what her parents said, it was all right to love her husband. Wes's lips returned to hers, as he slowly took off her clothes. He then pushed her gently on her back, and the last thought that crossed Jessica's mind before she was drowned in her pleasure was: He really loves me. Despite everything, he really loves me.
How was she to know that certainty was going to go through a trial by fire the very next morning?
*******************************
"I visit Bio-Lab's laboratories every month or so, to check that everything is fine and that the projects are actually working. Last month I showed up in the biology laboratory, to check it out, and one of the aides accidentally knocked down one of the containers, which broke. It contained the bacteria that infected me," Jessica explained.
"Then why didn't it affect the other scientists?" A reporter asked.
"Because they are under constant antibiotic treatment," she answered, holding Wes's hand under the table. "They are protected against most of the hazards of their profession."
"Well, I guess it's time for the question everybody has been wanting to ask," said a blonde reporter maliciously. "How was it, exactly, that you were cured of a life threatening pneumonia to almost perfect health, overnight?"
"I guess I'm the one who has to answer that," Wes said quickly. "I authorized some of Bio-Lab's scientists to conduct an experiment on Jessica, in an effort to cure her. It's for a top secret project, only a few people know about it, Jessica and me included, of course," he said.
"Can you tell us the nature of this experiment, Mr. Collins?" the reporter asked.
"I'm afraid I can't. The only thing I can tell you is that we didn't use any kind of drug on Jessica. She's perfectly healthy now, we believe the experiment won't have secondary effects."
"Are they true, the rumors that are going around that this experience changed the nature of your relationship?" asked a brunette with curly hair. Wes knew her, she worked for a tabloid.
"That's none of your business," Jessica snapped. The woman scribbled furiously fast in her notebook.
"Yes, it did," Wes added at the sight of this. Jessica threw him an annoyed look, but Wes just tried to tell her with his eyes to trust him. "We are, if possible, closer and happier than ever now," he said with a smile Jessica had to imitate.
The previous night had been amazing. All those people in that room probably would never understand the importance that event had had in their lives. She felt Wes's hand squeeze hers under the table and smiled wider, looking into her husband's eyes, forgetting completely where she was and about the other people in the room.
"Well, I guess that's it," Wes told the reporters, who immediately began to complain. "Jessica still needs to rest, and we have a busy week ahead of us, so if you would please leave," he said as an answer to their complaining.
Jessica got to her feet and allowed her husband to guide her out of the living room, through a door that was being guarded by two men in black suits. One of them was Eric; the other was one of the Silver Guardians. Now both of them were Jessica's personal escort.
In the other room the Power Rangers waited for the Collinses to finish their conference. As the door closed behind them, Jessica put one of her hands on her chest and let out a long, heavy breath. Immediately, Wes was all over her.
"Honey, are you all right?" he asked her.
"Yes, Wesley," she said, giving a smile he gladly mirrored. "I'm all right; it's just that, for the first time since we got hold of Bio-Lab, I was nervous about a press conference. I guess I don't know how to deal with tabloids."
"Good thing I do," Wes said, kissing her hand.
Alex cleared his throat. Both of the Collinses looked over at the black Ranger. On the desk lay a black box containing Wes's morpher and the pictures he was fearing for Jessica to see. He looked at it, scared.
Jessica walked towards it, but Wes got in the way. "Why don't you guys tell us what's going on here?" he asked the others, holding his wife in his arms rather tightly.
"You didn't tell her, did you?" the pink Ranger asked.
"Jen, can I talk to you in private for a second?" Wes requested. Jessica looked at him, her face showing concern and suspicion.
Jen. Where had she heard that name before?
Wes and Jen retired to the hall for a moment. "I didn't tell her about what happened between us, and I beg you to please not tell her," he said softly.
"Exactly what happened between us?" she asked. "I married Alex, Wes; I didn't come here to ruin your marriage. You should have told her about us though."
"Why should she know how I felt about you?"
"I meant her and me, Wes!" Jen snapped angrily. "I think she deserves to know."
"Fine, let's go and I'll tell her," he agreed. "Just one more thing," he said before they went in. "How come I could hear you in my mind while you were back at the ship? Yesterday, I mean," he asked.
"It's a long story, I'll explain later," she promised.
They entered the room, and Wes found himself looking at the picture he was most afraid of. Jessica was standing next to the desk, holding a picture in her right hand, the left covering her trembling mouth, as her eyes filled with tears of confusion and fear. She looked at him from over the picture, a single tear running down her cheek.
"Jessica," Wes started, moving towards her, but she put her hand in front of her, asking him to stop.
"Who is this woman?" she asked, showing him a picture of Jen. Wes lowered his gaze and took a deep breath, but he didn't answer. "Who is she?!" Jessica asked in a desperate tone. She needed to know, she had to know who that woman was. "It's not me! I've never worn my hair like that!"
"And she has brown eyes," Wes added in an undertone.
Jessica crossed her arms and looked at him menacingly, thrusting her chin forward, the same way Jen used to do when she was angry. "So? Are you going to tell me who she is today?!"
"It's me," the pink Ranger said. "Power Down!" she ordered, pressing the button in her morpher. "I'm the woman in the picture," Jen said. "My name is Jennifer Scotts, I came, along with my friends, from the year three thousand and five. Wes fought along with us as the red Ranger, and his help was very useful."
Jessica was shaking her head, tears running freely down her cheeks. Wes marveled at the freedom she was giving to her feelings, the old Jessica would have never cried in front of other people. She would have never even shown she was hurt, but the woman standing in front of him seem ready to drop to her knees and cry at any moment.
"Jen," she said softly, a light of dawning understanding illuminating her eyes. "That's what you called me," she told Wes in a broken voice, "when we first met."
To be continued.
"You what?" she asked softly.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I thought it was all in the past!" he said hurriedly. "Besides, would you have believed me if you hadn't met them?"
Jessica had to admit she wouldn't have. "So, you were a Power Ranger," she muttered. She felt lightheaded, dizzy and confused, as if she was in a weird dream. "Anything else I need to know right now?"
"You need to know, that no matter what you may think after this, I love you." Jessica noted the strange emphasis he put on the word 'you'.
"What is it you are not telling me?" she asked, her eyes filling with tears.
So many things went through Wes's head at that moment. Jen, Alex, his morpher, which was locked in a box in the basement with pictures of the other Rangers, his adventures, but the first thought kept coming back. The love he had once declared he felt for Jen. Would Jessica believe he loved her for who she was if she found out about Jen? He decided to leave that conversation for the next day, after the press conference.
"I've told you pretty much everything," he said, smiling at her.
She stared at him for a while, but she didn't feel like being angry at her husband that afternoon, so she just switched places, to sit next to him and buried her face in his neck. "Well, if that's it, perhaps when we get home, we can do that thing you like so much," she whispered in his ear. "What is it you call it when you take all my clothes off?" she asked in a fake ignorant tone.
"Love-making," he answered, wrapping his arm around her. He turned to face her and saw a shine in her green eyes he had never seen before.
"Oh, yes," she said as she tenderly rubbed her nose against his. "I'd like to do some of that," she admitted.
Wes smiled at her for an instant. Where had she learned so suddenly to be so tender and sexy and playful? He decided he didn't care. "Well, you can have as much of it as you want," he promised and leaned in to kiss her.
This time, and it made him feel even worse about the information he was keeping from her, she didn't tense, but actually relaxed in his arms and followed the rhythm of his lips in the kiss, making it long and passionate.
"I love you, Wesley," she muttered dreamily, her eyes closed, the expression on her face showing how much pleasure she was having with her new romantic attitude.
"And I love you, Jessica," he said, his eyes closed as well, his forehead pressed against his wife's. The words came from his heart. The heart that was crushed by guilt moments before now flew free with its love. He knew, suddenly, he could convince her that his heart was hers.
***********************************
Jen half moaned. "Alex," she whispered, into her husband's ear.
"Yes?" he asked, not stopping his loving attack on her breasts.
"I love you," she said plainly. He looked up at her eyes.
"I love you too," he said softly, burying his face in her breasts again, kissing them softly.
"I want to thank you," she said then.
"For what?" he asked moving his kisses lower, to her abdomen.
"For making me so very happy," she told him. He chuckled against her soft skin and kissed her belly. "I'm sorry that's empty," she said.
"Hey, we'll have our children eventually," he assured her, now kissing her softly all around her belly button, with a fast succession of small kisses.
"Yeah, I guess," she said, relaxing. No point in worrying about their children, or about Wes and Jessica. She sat on the bed, decided to give her husband back some of the affection and pleasure he was giving her.
*****************************
Jessica sat on the bed, nervously. This wasn't the first time she and Wes had had sex, but certainly it was going to be the first time they made love. He approached her and kissed her. She returned the kiss, the way she had read in the magazines she had sometimes read in the beauty salon, when she had nothing to work on. She felt his kisses trailing down from her mouth to her neck, as his hands began tugging with the tail of her shirt.
She took a deep breath and tried to relax reminding herself that, no matter what her parents said, it was all right to love her husband. Wes's lips returned to hers, as he slowly took off her clothes. He then pushed her gently on her back, and the last thought that crossed Jessica's mind before she was drowned in her pleasure was: He really loves me. Despite everything, he really loves me.
How was she to know that certainty was going to go through a trial by fire the very next morning?
*******************************
"I visit Bio-Lab's laboratories every month or so, to check that everything is fine and that the projects are actually working. Last month I showed up in the biology laboratory, to check it out, and one of the aides accidentally knocked down one of the containers, which broke. It contained the bacteria that infected me," Jessica explained.
"Then why didn't it affect the other scientists?" A reporter asked.
"Because they are under constant antibiotic treatment," she answered, holding Wes's hand under the table. "They are protected against most of the hazards of their profession."
"Well, I guess it's time for the question everybody has been wanting to ask," said a blonde reporter maliciously. "How was it, exactly, that you were cured of a life threatening pneumonia to almost perfect health, overnight?"
"I guess I'm the one who has to answer that," Wes said quickly. "I authorized some of Bio-Lab's scientists to conduct an experiment on Jessica, in an effort to cure her. It's for a top secret project, only a few people know about it, Jessica and me included, of course," he said.
"Can you tell us the nature of this experiment, Mr. Collins?" the reporter asked.
"I'm afraid I can't. The only thing I can tell you is that we didn't use any kind of drug on Jessica. She's perfectly healthy now, we believe the experiment won't have secondary effects."
"Are they true, the rumors that are going around that this experience changed the nature of your relationship?" asked a brunette with curly hair. Wes knew her, she worked for a tabloid.
"That's none of your business," Jessica snapped. The woman scribbled furiously fast in her notebook.
"Yes, it did," Wes added at the sight of this. Jessica threw him an annoyed look, but Wes just tried to tell her with his eyes to trust him. "We are, if possible, closer and happier than ever now," he said with a smile Jessica had to imitate.
The previous night had been amazing. All those people in that room probably would never understand the importance that event had had in their lives. She felt Wes's hand squeeze hers under the table and smiled wider, looking into her husband's eyes, forgetting completely where she was and about the other people in the room.
"Well, I guess that's it," Wes told the reporters, who immediately began to complain. "Jessica still needs to rest, and we have a busy week ahead of us, so if you would please leave," he said as an answer to their complaining.
Jessica got to her feet and allowed her husband to guide her out of the living room, through a door that was being guarded by two men in black suits. One of them was Eric; the other was one of the Silver Guardians. Now both of them were Jessica's personal escort.
In the other room the Power Rangers waited for the Collinses to finish their conference. As the door closed behind them, Jessica put one of her hands on her chest and let out a long, heavy breath. Immediately, Wes was all over her.
"Honey, are you all right?" he asked her.
"Yes, Wesley," she said, giving a smile he gladly mirrored. "I'm all right; it's just that, for the first time since we got hold of Bio-Lab, I was nervous about a press conference. I guess I don't know how to deal with tabloids."
"Good thing I do," Wes said, kissing her hand.
Alex cleared his throat. Both of the Collinses looked over at the black Ranger. On the desk lay a black box containing Wes's morpher and the pictures he was fearing for Jessica to see. He looked at it, scared.
Jessica walked towards it, but Wes got in the way. "Why don't you guys tell us what's going on here?" he asked the others, holding his wife in his arms rather tightly.
"You didn't tell her, did you?" the pink Ranger asked.
"Jen, can I talk to you in private for a second?" Wes requested. Jessica looked at him, her face showing concern and suspicion.
Jen. Where had she heard that name before?
Wes and Jen retired to the hall for a moment. "I didn't tell her about what happened between us, and I beg you to please not tell her," he said softly.
"Exactly what happened between us?" she asked. "I married Alex, Wes; I didn't come here to ruin your marriage. You should have told her about us though."
"Why should she know how I felt about you?"
"I meant her and me, Wes!" Jen snapped angrily. "I think she deserves to know."
"Fine, let's go and I'll tell her," he agreed. "Just one more thing," he said before they went in. "How come I could hear you in my mind while you were back at the ship? Yesterday, I mean," he asked.
"It's a long story, I'll explain later," she promised.
They entered the room, and Wes found himself looking at the picture he was most afraid of. Jessica was standing next to the desk, holding a picture in her right hand, the left covering her trembling mouth, as her eyes filled with tears of confusion and fear. She looked at him from over the picture, a single tear running down her cheek.
"Jessica," Wes started, moving towards her, but she put her hand in front of her, asking him to stop.
"Who is this woman?" she asked, showing him a picture of Jen. Wes lowered his gaze and took a deep breath, but he didn't answer. "Who is she?!" Jessica asked in a desperate tone. She needed to know, she had to know who that woman was. "It's not me! I've never worn my hair like that!"
"And she has brown eyes," Wes added in an undertone.
Jessica crossed her arms and looked at him menacingly, thrusting her chin forward, the same way Jen used to do when she was angry. "So? Are you going to tell me who she is today?!"
"It's me," the pink Ranger said. "Power Down!" she ordered, pressing the button in her morpher. "I'm the woman in the picture," Jen said. "My name is Jennifer Scotts, I came, along with my friends, from the year three thousand and five. Wes fought along with us as the red Ranger, and his help was very useful."
Jessica was shaking her head, tears running freely down her cheeks. Wes marveled at the freedom she was giving to her feelings, the old Jessica would have never cried in front of other people. She would have never even shown she was hurt, but the woman standing in front of him seem ready to drop to her knees and cry at any moment.
"Jen," she said softly, a light of dawning understanding illuminating her eyes. "That's what you called me," she told Wes in a broken voice, "when we first met."
To be continued.
