Chapter 38

It was over. After months in the past, after fighting this woman for two years, after a week of investigations and debriefings, it was finally over. The other Time Force squad was leaving that night and the next day the Rangers got the chance to enjoy the barbecue with the Simmonses and the Collinses. Then they would leave too.

Jen and Alex stood by the Time Ships where everyone was already boarding. Alex's father was now more relaxed and was treating Jen better, so they hugged and promised to see each other when the young couple got back to the future. The other two high commandants who had been in the debriefing room also approached them to say goodbye, and that was the moment Alex and Jen chose to hand them a small box.

"What is this?" Mr. Drake asked.

"Our morphers, our officer gloves and our badges," Alex answered, looking at Jen who smiled encouragingly. "We know we should wait until we get back to the future, but there's no case for that. We are renouncing Time Force," he announced.

"You what?" the woman asked, surprised.

"We quit. We can't continue living like this anymore, sorry," Jen said.

"But--but what are we going to do without you two?" Drake asked.

"We are not the only good officers you have," Alex said. "I have deactivated the DNA lock on the morphers, so anyone can use them."

"We don't want just anyone to use them!" The black man complained. "You two were born to do this, why quit?"

"Because we were born to do it, and it's not pleasant or fun anymore," Alex said.

"We can't live properly as long as we have those morphers on our wrists. Sorry, but we won't turn back on this," Jen said.

"Well, if that's the case," Drake said, looking from the box to the two young officers. "It was a pleasure having you among our ranks."

"It was an honor being among them, sir," Jen said.

"No, you don't have to call me sir anymore, Jen. You have stopped being Colonel and Captain Drake, and have become Mr. and Mrs. Drake, plain and simple," Drake said.

Jen and Alex looked at each other and he wrapped one of his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to his side and kissing her forehead tenderly. Jen closed her eyes, pleased with the touch.

"What are you going to do now?" Richard Drake asked. "Out of curiosity."

"I'll talk to my father to see if he needs me to help him with an area of the farms that can be supervised from the city. If he doesn't, I'll find something to do," Jen answered.

"You can start an odd jobs shop," Alex suggested sarcastically. Jen hit him softly on the side with her elbow.

"And what about you, Alex?" Richard asked. "I need help at Bio-lab, and you did graduate from business school." At those words, Jen raised an eyebrow and looked at her husband trying (not too hard) to hide the smile that was forming.

"Let me think about it," Alex said. His father shrugged and turned to leave. "Have a safe trip," he wished.

"Thanks," Richard answered and he walked towards his ship, followed by the other two high commandants.

Alex let go of Jen and began walking towards the SUV they had used to get there. Jen followed him, a few steps behind.

"So," she said as they walked. "You have a business degree?"

"I took it because he and Mom wanted me to," he answered. "I did it along with Time Force academy."

"Are you taking over Bio-lab?" she asked, climbing inside the vehicle.

"I said I'd think about it," was his answer.

"Because if you are, I can help you dye your hair blond, you know?" she commented innocently.

"Very funny, Jennifer, very funny," he said, not really meaning it.

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The next morning, everyone woke up filled with energy and happiness. Wes, Kevin and Alex set up the grill and began preparing meat of all kinds, along with chicken and fish. "This is a lot of meat," Alex commented.

"There are a lot of people," Wes said.

It was a glorious day; all of them got to swim at the pool, eat their grilled meat, play baseball, and talk all day long. The children even got to ride Centauricon, who along with his mutant friends had been freed from all charges and had stayed in the year 2004 with the Rangers, until they all left together.

Sitting at the table, the couples shared memories from their weddings.

"Ours was, of course, very small and simple," Josephine said. "But as long as we were marrying each other we didn't care much."

"Well, my wedding with Wesley was the exact opposite," Jessica laughed. "We had a big wedding, with lots of guests, and food--"

"And alcohol," Wes added.

"And the press was there," Jessica said. Suddenly, her eyes got illuminated. "Let me bring my album!" she said running towards the house. The rest of them laughed.

"What about yours?" Wes asked Jen and Alex.

"It was a considerably big wedding," Alex said. "Bigger than reasonable, but then again, both of our families are very prominent in the future, so it did justice to what it was expected from a wedding between us."

"We also had lots of guests and the press was there too," Jen commented, her eyes showing the dreamy veil of someone lost in a pleasant memory. Suddenly, her face lit up as well. "That's it!!" she yelled, turning to Alex. "Alex, that's it!" she insisted.

"What is it?" he asked, confused.

"The posed bodies! Are pictures, from our wedding!" she said. "The doctor and his wife, they were posed to resemble the photo we have of ourselves in our wedding bands!" she said, pressing her wedding band so a holographic picture appeared above her hand. In the picture, both of them, wearing lovely outfits, were holding hands and kissing on the lips in a sort of comic way, by trusting their lips forward, as if they were kissing a frog.

"Isn't this funny," Katie commented.

"It's not just funny," Alex said. "It's logical."

Jessica returned with her album and put it in the table. "What did I miss?" she asked.

"Not much we could understand," Wes answered.

"Let us see those pictures," Alex said, taking the album from her and opening it.

"Do you have any pictures from your wedding? I'd love to see how it was," Jessica said.

"Close your eyes and I'll make you see it through my eyes," Jen offered. Jessica nodded excitedly and closed her green eyes.

At four pm, Josephine and Kevin took their children and their things and with one last hug for each one of the people who had saved their lives, they got into their SUV and returned to their farm.

Finally, at sunset, it was time for the Rangers to go back to the year 3004. Katie, Trip and Lucas, who hadn't been entirely happy with Jen and Alex's decision to quit, ordered them to stay out of the ship while they fit everything in, including the three computers Alex had bought (He bought a PC, a Mac and a laptop). While they waited, Alex and Jen approached Jess and Wes to say goodbye.

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Jessica said, hugging each one of them.

"I bet it wasn't a pleasure meeting me," Jen commented.

"I admit I didn't like it in the beginning, but I really got to like you," Jessica said.

Jen smiled. "I'm glad Wes found you," she said.

"I'm glad you got Alex back."

Alex offered his hand to Wes. "Take care of your family, please," he asked.

"Don't worry, I will," the blond man promised. "Take care of Jen, okay? Make her happy."

"I'll do my best," Alex promised back. "I have to admit it was an honor working with you. But don't tell anyone."

"I won't if you don't tell anyone I liked working with you."

"We have a deal."

Then, they switched partners.

"Alex," Jessica said. "I want you to know that I consider you my friend. It was great to meet you," she said hugging him.

"I can say the same," he said. "In both things."

Jen and Wes stared at each other, smiling. "Well, you know the obvious things," Jen said. "Take care of your family and yourself, be happy, eat healthy," she said tiredly.

"Yeah, yeah, likewise," he answered in the same tone of voice. Then they finally hugged tightly, some tears managing to escape from under their eyelids.

Alex took Jessica's arm and said, "Can I talk to you for a second in private?" he gave her a meaningful look and she nodded.

"Sure thing, let's go over there," she said, pointing towards the limo she and Wes had gone to the beach in.

Wes and Jen found themselves on their own when they let go, and they turned around looking for their spouses, who were standing behind the limo, giving their backs to them, apparently absorbed in a conversation. Jen received a thought from Alex's mind: If we don't see it, it never happened. Get it out of your system.

Jen gave Wes a mischievous lopsided grin and put her hands on his shoulders. "Wes, there is one thing I desperately need to do," she said.

"What is it?" he asked, not guessing her intentions.

She put her hands on the sides of his face and brought him closer, kissing him on the lips for a long time. Finally their lips parted and they looked into each other's eyes, licking their lips. "I needed to know what it felt like to kiss you," Jen said. "I had to get it out of my system."

"I'll admit I wanted to kiss you too," he said. "It was a good kiss, I'm glad we didn't do this three years ago, or I would have sat down and waited to kiss you again," he said.

"Me too," she commented.

From the ship's entrance, Katie yelled: "Hey, civilians, we're ready!" Alex and Jessica returned to their spouses' side, and both couples hugged and kissed respectively.

"Take care of Caroline, and careful with her," Jen said. "She's a born psychic," she warned.

"That would explain the flying bottle I saw the other day in her room," Jessica commented. "Have a safe trip."

"We will. Take care," Alex said.

"And we hope you can finally have a child, it's the best thing in the world," Wes yelled at them as they walked towards the ship.

Finally both former officers were absorbed by the ship's teleportation system, and disappeared from sight. Wes and Jessica took their sunglasses out and put them on for protection when the ship began taking off, sending sand flying in all directions.

As the ship moved fast towards the time hole, Jen looked down through the window and said to Alex: "This is a new beginning for us."

"Yes it is," he agreed. "I'll be happy just to have you," he commented, holding her hand and closing his eyes as the ship entered the hole and began spinning furiously.

From the ground Wes and Jessica saw the ship enter the time hole and then turned and began walking towards the limo. Once inside, Wes asked: "Now what?"

"Now we go home and sit down to revise the contract with the Brazilians, we have a meeting the day after tomorrow with them, and tomorrow we are meeting legal and Eric, because the Silver Guardians who disappeared never returned, and we have to see if that is our fault or not--" Jessica was cut off by Wes's lips over hers.

"Jessica," he whispered.

"I know, I know, I'll leave the work for later," she said.

"No," he denied, shaking his head. "Never change."

You showed me faith is not blind.
I don't need wings to help me fly
Miracles happen once in a while
When you believe
You showed me dreams come to light
That taking a chance on us was right
Oh, things will come
With a little time
When you believe

The end.

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The last verses belong to the song "Miracles Happen" by Myra, and it can be found as part of the soundtrack of "The Princess Diaries".