/Armageddon: The Alternate Version...
Author: Captain Cornflake II
Chapter Two: The Proposal
-Disclaimer-
I do not own Armageddon or any of the characters...I do however, own Watts' daughter, Amanda.
Also, shout out to all the victims of 9/11...RIP
Jen arched her head back, flexing the muscles of her neck as she washed her hands and nails after a long, hard day with the trainees...again.
She ran her hands over her flushed cheeks and dried them on a small hand towel that lay nearby; she reached up to switch the mirror light off when a pair of strong hands slipped over her eyes.
"Guess who?" said the voice behind her.
"Um....mom?" asked Jen, jokingly.
"Ha ha...you guessed wrong...come on...try again..."
"Dan I know it's you...so get off my eyes, you're hurting me..." she said, pushing his hands off and turning around, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Alright you got me..." he kissed her lightly, "So...."
"So...what do you want this time?"
"How does...me, you, a bottle of somethin' and the roof sound?"
"It sounds crazy...why?"
"Nah come on...there's something I wanna show you..."
She reluctantly agreed to go out onto the roof with him, he had to be crazy or on something, it was absolutely freezing out there...not to mention there was a wind blowing.
"Here..." he offered her his jacket to put over the thin jumpsuit she was wearing, she accepted it and sat down on the top of an air vent that was near the door they'd come out of.
She looked up to the night sky...thousands of tiny, flickering stars danced over their heads...it was a magical sight to see, bar the fact that it was so damned cold.
"So...Dan....tell me, what the heck are we doing up here?" asked Jen, eager to get back inside, under the warm blankets of her bed.
"Um...I thought this would be real romantic and all...but apparently the weather's decided to do otherwise..." he said, in his thick Texan accent.
"Come on....what is it...I'm freezing my ass off here..."
"Jennifer Watts...will you marry me?" he blurted out suddenly, shocking both himself and the woman before him.
"I...I...I..."
"Say yes...please..." thought Trueman to himself, as he stood, down on one knee, holding both her hands in his.
"Oh Dan..." she squealed, pulling him to his feet and hugging him tightly.
"I'll take that as a yes then..."
"Yes..." she cried, jumping at him and wrapping her legs around his waist.
He stumbled back slightly as she leapt at him, but he held her waist firmly with one arm, whilst the other supported her shoulders and she kissed him deeply and passionately.
When she stood back down on the ground, he leaned down and whispered in her ear:
"How wonderful life is...now you're in...the world..."
She merely smiled and held him closer to her body.
"You better get back...you gotta keep an eye on Pete remember?" she was of course...referring to Pete Shelby, fellow astronaut and friend.
"Yeah...he's supposed to be there now...on the satellite I mean...you wanna come in with me?"
"Well I guess I should be going to sleep...but what the hey...I'd like to say hi..."
The two went inside and walked into the control room that was watching the shuttle Atlantis twenty-four hours a day while it was on it's repair mission on a weather satellite that had a faulty part.
"His heart's racing..." said one guy who was watching Pete's vitals.
"Hey Pete...its Trueman..." started Dan, taking the radio.
"Hey...."
"How you doing up there?"
"Uh...I'm okay...I'm alright...just a little tense I guess..."
"Well man, I'll give you a buffalo nickel if you'll calm down just a little bit..." he joked lightly.
"Yeah...whatever you say..."
"Now don't you worry we gotcha...now we gotta plenty of time so don't you go rushing anything..."
Jen sat back and then stepped forward again as Dan offered the radio to her:
"Hey there Pete...how are ya?"
"Jen...hey...I'm uh...great..."
"Looking forward to going out and getting drunk when you come back huh?"
"Oh hell yeah...wait a second...I...got it..." he grunted as he removed the faulty chip.
"Yeah Pete...that's good, you're doing really great..." Jen comforted her tensed up colleague, "Now come on...you fix that...and I'm buying the first round..."
"Make mine a large Bud..." laughed the voice on the other end.
A loud rumbling sound caused the entire control to fall silent:
"What the hell is that?" said Malloy.
At that moment, something streaked through the video feed from Pete and smashed straight into the satellite, it was followed by more, more violent, and more frequent.
They were smashing the shuttle into pieces as well; all anyone could do was watch on in horror as the worst possible thing could happen. Jen, who still had Dan's earpiece in, covered her mouth with her hands when Pete's visor was caught...and shattered.
He flew through the celestial abyss, screaming and spinning over and over in the dark...blood streaking from his eyelids...the entire control watched the situation unfold in front of their eyes like it were not happening...like it were a dream.
"No..." whispered Dan to himself as the last words rang out from the shuttle before it exploded; 'HOUSTON!' was the last thing navigator and pilot Kevin Carlyle ever uttered....
"Storm! Play that tape back!" ordered Dan, as began to work to understand what the hell had just happened.
Jen rushed away to the nearest phone that could reach outside numbers to ring her mom, who had Amanda living with her in New York. She dialled the number as quickly as she could, frantic to ensure her daughter's safety. There was no answer, and Mary (Jen's mom)'s cell phone was just continually ringing...and ringing...and ringing...
"Dammit!" she cursed, frustrated and worried beyond all belief, fifteen minutes later Dan peered into the room to find Jen sitting with her knees pulled into her chest.
"Jen...it's a meteor shower...and...it's hitting New York..." he explained, his face staring deep into her tear-filled eyes.
"Oh no...Amanda..." she whispered, hugging her knees closer to her chest.
"Dan you got a call coming in, FBI's trying to trace the number right now...he says its important...that there's something burning up there..." said Malloy, hurriedly.
"Alright I'm coming...Jen, don't worry...your mom and Amanda will be fine...I'm sure of it.."
Within the hour, the meteor show that had befell New York was over, and the devastation was...well lets just sat catastrophic...all anyone could do was watch as the news poured in from all around the world about the disastrous consequences of the sudden showers...
With shaking hands and a heavy heart, much different from that of her usual steely resolve, Jen picked up the phone again and dialled her mom's apartment phone...at last! A ringing tone...it rang six times before being picked up, then a short crackling sound was heard like bad reception on a cell phone, and then the line went dead again...
Turning her eyes to meet the TV screens in the control room she folded her arms across her chest and sighed, that deep-rooted sick feeling you get when you know something bad had happened was setting in...seeing the Twin Towers with great chunks missing out of them, the Empire State building, with its entire top missing...
Running her hands through her dishelved looking hair she wiped her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could manage, if only those young cadets could see her now, they'd fast take comments back that she wasn't human...
Below she saw Dan working his way around the control room, shouting out orders on how they were going to find out what the hell had just happened and if there was more to come...
She glanced sideways as fellow instructor, fellow Air Force, or rather ex- Air Force in her case, pilot, and long time friend Colonel Willy Sharp walked in, having heard what had happened... Seeing her shook-up in general appearance, he decided to say nothing just yet, just stand next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders...
"Jen..." he said, finally breaking the silence, "Your mom and Amanda are fine...they're alive..."
Jen broke away from and stared at him in disbelief, "You...you've heard from them?"
He nodded, "Yeah...there was a call back from your mom, she said that she'd heard you on the other end and then the line went dead, so she called back...and so you know, she and Amanda are fine...a little shaken, the uh, the windows were blown out on the building, but they've just got a few cuts and stuff, but they're on their way over here as soon as we can get them here..." he tried to give her a reassuring squeeze of the hand, much like a brother would.
"Oh thank god..." she whispered hurriedly, wiping her eyes again, "Where else has been hit?" she asked, for the first time remembering that other people around the world had been affected...
He shook his head, "Exactly where we don't know...but its all over the world...from Finland, all the way...well everywhere..."
They stood there silent for a few moments, until Watts spoke up:
"Dan's asked me to marry him..." she said flatly, looking out onto the control room again.
"What?"
"He's asked me to marry him..." she repeated, in the same monotonous tone.
"Jen...that's great...what did you say?"
"I said yes..." she answered, "...now all this has happened, the shuttles gone, Pete, Kevin, Terry.... they're all gone...it just doesn't seem such a happy thing now...."
"Jen...no matter what happens...its wonderful...you've finally someone who cares for you just as much as Matt did..."
Looking down, she tried not to remind herself too much of all the great times she'd had with Matt, albeit short lived as their marriage was...and being widowed at twenty six, well at the time had become too much for her, and she almost had a nervous breakdown, if it hadn't been for her determination to live out her dead husbands dream of seeing the stars and flying into space, she surely would have.
"D'you think he'd be proud...Matt I mean...of me doing this...going through all this training and everything...and Amanda...reckon he'd be proud of her?" she asked, knowing that Sharp had been friends with Matt as well.
"He'd be so proud I think he'd burst..." he smirked softly, imagining his old friend had he still been alive now, "I also think he'd be happy that you've found someone to love you after him...and to be a father to Amanda..."
Watching everyone below burst into action, she sighed again, sniffing back any more tears that threatened to fall, determined to be strong for Dan, and for Amanda when she got there...
A/N: I know its been a while, and this chapter was sitting around half written for ages...LOL, chapter three should be on its way soon, and a note to OrganizedChaos1982 , Quincy will be on his way in chapter three, if not very early on in chapter four, so hand in there, he is coming...
Astacia, no problems about writing the fic, Watts is actually my fave character in Armageddon, hence the reason I want to write it from her POV...
Keep reading ladies and gents; there is more to come...
PS: Shout out to the sugar bandit, and Donna, and Davy, and matt and everyone else I know, oh yeah, hiya steph, and Kerry (
Author: Captain Cornflake II
Chapter Two: The Proposal
-Disclaimer-
I do not own Armageddon or any of the characters...I do however, own Watts' daughter, Amanda.
Also, shout out to all the victims of 9/11...RIP
Jen arched her head back, flexing the muscles of her neck as she washed her hands and nails after a long, hard day with the trainees...again.
She ran her hands over her flushed cheeks and dried them on a small hand towel that lay nearby; she reached up to switch the mirror light off when a pair of strong hands slipped over her eyes.
"Guess who?" said the voice behind her.
"Um....mom?" asked Jen, jokingly.
"Ha ha...you guessed wrong...come on...try again..."
"Dan I know it's you...so get off my eyes, you're hurting me..." she said, pushing his hands off and turning around, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Alright you got me..." he kissed her lightly, "So...."
"So...what do you want this time?"
"How does...me, you, a bottle of somethin' and the roof sound?"
"It sounds crazy...why?"
"Nah come on...there's something I wanna show you..."
She reluctantly agreed to go out onto the roof with him, he had to be crazy or on something, it was absolutely freezing out there...not to mention there was a wind blowing.
"Here..." he offered her his jacket to put over the thin jumpsuit she was wearing, she accepted it and sat down on the top of an air vent that was near the door they'd come out of.
She looked up to the night sky...thousands of tiny, flickering stars danced over their heads...it was a magical sight to see, bar the fact that it was so damned cold.
"So...Dan....tell me, what the heck are we doing up here?" asked Jen, eager to get back inside, under the warm blankets of her bed.
"Um...I thought this would be real romantic and all...but apparently the weather's decided to do otherwise..." he said, in his thick Texan accent.
"Come on....what is it...I'm freezing my ass off here..."
"Jennifer Watts...will you marry me?" he blurted out suddenly, shocking both himself and the woman before him.
"I...I...I..."
"Say yes...please..." thought Trueman to himself, as he stood, down on one knee, holding both her hands in his.
"Oh Dan..." she squealed, pulling him to his feet and hugging him tightly.
"I'll take that as a yes then..."
"Yes..." she cried, jumping at him and wrapping her legs around his waist.
He stumbled back slightly as she leapt at him, but he held her waist firmly with one arm, whilst the other supported her shoulders and she kissed him deeply and passionately.
When she stood back down on the ground, he leaned down and whispered in her ear:
"How wonderful life is...now you're in...the world..."
She merely smiled and held him closer to her body.
"You better get back...you gotta keep an eye on Pete remember?" she was of course...referring to Pete Shelby, fellow astronaut and friend.
"Yeah...he's supposed to be there now...on the satellite I mean...you wanna come in with me?"
"Well I guess I should be going to sleep...but what the hey...I'd like to say hi..."
The two went inside and walked into the control room that was watching the shuttle Atlantis twenty-four hours a day while it was on it's repair mission on a weather satellite that had a faulty part.
"His heart's racing..." said one guy who was watching Pete's vitals.
"Hey Pete...its Trueman..." started Dan, taking the radio.
"Hey...."
"How you doing up there?"
"Uh...I'm okay...I'm alright...just a little tense I guess..."
"Well man, I'll give you a buffalo nickel if you'll calm down just a little bit..." he joked lightly.
"Yeah...whatever you say..."
"Now don't you worry we gotcha...now we gotta plenty of time so don't you go rushing anything..."
Jen sat back and then stepped forward again as Dan offered the radio to her:
"Hey there Pete...how are ya?"
"Jen...hey...I'm uh...great..."
"Looking forward to going out and getting drunk when you come back huh?"
"Oh hell yeah...wait a second...I...got it..." he grunted as he removed the faulty chip.
"Yeah Pete...that's good, you're doing really great..." Jen comforted her tensed up colleague, "Now come on...you fix that...and I'm buying the first round..."
"Make mine a large Bud..." laughed the voice on the other end.
A loud rumbling sound caused the entire control to fall silent:
"What the hell is that?" said Malloy.
At that moment, something streaked through the video feed from Pete and smashed straight into the satellite, it was followed by more, more violent, and more frequent.
They were smashing the shuttle into pieces as well; all anyone could do was watch on in horror as the worst possible thing could happen. Jen, who still had Dan's earpiece in, covered her mouth with her hands when Pete's visor was caught...and shattered.
He flew through the celestial abyss, screaming and spinning over and over in the dark...blood streaking from his eyelids...the entire control watched the situation unfold in front of their eyes like it were not happening...like it were a dream.
"No..." whispered Dan to himself as the last words rang out from the shuttle before it exploded; 'HOUSTON!' was the last thing navigator and pilot Kevin Carlyle ever uttered....
"Storm! Play that tape back!" ordered Dan, as began to work to understand what the hell had just happened.
Jen rushed away to the nearest phone that could reach outside numbers to ring her mom, who had Amanda living with her in New York. She dialled the number as quickly as she could, frantic to ensure her daughter's safety. There was no answer, and Mary (Jen's mom)'s cell phone was just continually ringing...and ringing...and ringing...
"Dammit!" she cursed, frustrated and worried beyond all belief, fifteen minutes later Dan peered into the room to find Jen sitting with her knees pulled into her chest.
"Jen...it's a meteor shower...and...it's hitting New York..." he explained, his face staring deep into her tear-filled eyes.
"Oh no...Amanda..." she whispered, hugging her knees closer to her chest.
"Dan you got a call coming in, FBI's trying to trace the number right now...he says its important...that there's something burning up there..." said Malloy, hurriedly.
"Alright I'm coming...Jen, don't worry...your mom and Amanda will be fine...I'm sure of it.."
Within the hour, the meteor show that had befell New York was over, and the devastation was...well lets just sat catastrophic...all anyone could do was watch as the news poured in from all around the world about the disastrous consequences of the sudden showers...
With shaking hands and a heavy heart, much different from that of her usual steely resolve, Jen picked up the phone again and dialled her mom's apartment phone...at last! A ringing tone...it rang six times before being picked up, then a short crackling sound was heard like bad reception on a cell phone, and then the line went dead again...
Turning her eyes to meet the TV screens in the control room she folded her arms across her chest and sighed, that deep-rooted sick feeling you get when you know something bad had happened was setting in...seeing the Twin Towers with great chunks missing out of them, the Empire State building, with its entire top missing...
Running her hands through her dishelved looking hair she wiped her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could manage, if only those young cadets could see her now, they'd fast take comments back that she wasn't human...
Below she saw Dan working his way around the control room, shouting out orders on how they were going to find out what the hell had just happened and if there was more to come...
She glanced sideways as fellow instructor, fellow Air Force, or rather ex- Air Force in her case, pilot, and long time friend Colonel Willy Sharp walked in, having heard what had happened... Seeing her shook-up in general appearance, he decided to say nothing just yet, just stand next to her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders...
"Jen..." he said, finally breaking the silence, "Your mom and Amanda are fine...they're alive..."
Jen broke away from and stared at him in disbelief, "You...you've heard from them?"
He nodded, "Yeah...there was a call back from your mom, she said that she'd heard you on the other end and then the line went dead, so she called back...and so you know, she and Amanda are fine...a little shaken, the uh, the windows were blown out on the building, but they've just got a few cuts and stuff, but they're on their way over here as soon as we can get them here..." he tried to give her a reassuring squeeze of the hand, much like a brother would.
"Oh thank god..." she whispered hurriedly, wiping her eyes again, "Where else has been hit?" she asked, for the first time remembering that other people around the world had been affected...
He shook his head, "Exactly where we don't know...but its all over the world...from Finland, all the way...well everywhere..."
They stood there silent for a few moments, until Watts spoke up:
"Dan's asked me to marry him..." she said flatly, looking out onto the control room again.
"What?"
"He's asked me to marry him..." she repeated, in the same monotonous tone.
"Jen...that's great...what did you say?"
"I said yes..." she answered, "...now all this has happened, the shuttles gone, Pete, Kevin, Terry.... they're all gone...it just doesn't seem such a happy thing now...."
"Jen...no matter what happens...its wonderful...you've finally someone who cares for you just as much as Matt did..."
Looking down, she tried not to remind herself too much of all the great times she'd had with Matt, albeit short lived as their marriage was...and being widowed at twenty six, well at the time had become too much for her, and she almost had a nervous breakdown, if it hadn't been for her determination to live out her dead husbands dream of seeing the stars and flying into space, she surely would have.
"D'you think he'd be proud...Matt I mean...of me doing this...going through all this training and everything...and Amanda...reckon he'd be proud of her?" she asked, knowing that Sharp had been friends with Matt as well.
"He'd be so proud I think he'd burst..." he smirked softly, imagining his old friend had he still been alive now, "I also think he'd be happy that you've found someone to love you after him...and to be a father to Amanda..."
Watching everyone below burst into action, she sighed again, sniffing back any more tears that threatened to fall, determined to be strong for Dan, and for Amanda when she got there...
A/N: I know its been a while, and this chapter was sitting around half written for ages...LOL, chapter three should be on its way soon, and a note to OrganizedChaos1982 , Quincy will be on his way in chapter three, if not very early on in chapter four, so hand in there, he is coming...
Astacia, no problems about writing the fic, Watts is actually my fave character in Armageddon, hence the reason I want to write it from her POV...
Keep reading ladies and gents; there is more to come...
PS: Shout out to the sugar bandit, and Donna, and Davy, and matt and everyone else I know, oh yeah, hiya steph, and Kerry (
