Rated PG-13: language, sexual references in the last section, including slash elements.
A/N: For those not familiar with my 'Year of Time' series, it's a science-fiction AU of Time Force. In it, Trip is a mutant, not an alien; there were no zords or megazords besides the Q-Rex (which was simply a large robot); the mutants didn't grow; and there were only a few of them. Also there are no other Ranger teams, therefore the teamups with Lightspeed and Wild Force and 'Forever Red' never happened.
Reviews are always appreciated.
"Something weird's going on."
Privately Wes thought Eric had just made the understatement of the century, but he made no comment. "Jen, what are you talking about?" he asked.
"What do you mean, what am I talking about?" She was on her feet now, advancing to confront him, her face angry. "What part of 'Go home' do you not understand?"
"I don't understand what you're doing here in this lifeguard station. I don't understand what the rest of you guys are doing back here. I - why are you wearing your Time Force uniform?"
"What else would I be wearing?" Jen's eyes moved beyond him, to focus on Eric, narrowing suspiciously. "Who's that? Did you tell him about us?"
"That's Eric, of course... And actually you told him. Don't you remember?"
"Remember what?" They were nose to nose, Jen glaring at him as if he were a particularly bothersome insect - just like when they first met...
"Jen..."
"Not now, Trip!"
"Jen, look at their wrists!"
She gave him another second of glowering before stepping back far enough to look down. At first her face just froze, staring, before she raised her eyes again. "Where did you get that morpher?" she hissed. "Did you sneak in here somehow..." Her hand reached into a pocket of her uniform, fumbled for a moment, and came out. Again she looked down, this time in disbelief, at the morpher in her hand and then at the identical device on Wes's arm.
"I don't-" she started.
"Look," Lucas said quietly, pointing at Eric. "Doesn't that look like the Quantum morpher?"
"It sure does." Katie stepped past Jen and Wes and grabbed for Eric's arm. "Who are you? What are you doing with that?"
He tried to pull out of her grasp. "Are you going to start that again? It's mine!"
"How did you get it?"
"Ow! Let go of me!"
"What's going on?"
In an instant they were all shouting at once, Eric and Katie were struggling, Lucas was moving in on them, Trip was looking anxious and confused. Until Jen's sharp voice cut through the noise, silencing them.
"Stop it, all of you!" She swept a harsh glare over everyone, making Wes feel like a child caught talking in school. Like she had sometimes when they were all there in 2001...
"Wait," Wes said. He held up a hand as Jen opened her mouth. "Are you saying you didn't give me my morpher back, a couple of days after we met?"
"Why would I have done that?"
"And you don't remember Eric?"
"Never saw him before."
It was a hard question to ask, somehow, maybe because it would inevitably sound insane. But he had to ask it. "What year is this?"
"What?" Jen snorted derisively. "This is your time, and you don't know what year it is?"
"I'm not sure it is my time."
"Morpher, when are we?" Eric's voice came quietly from beside him. After a moment he looked up, his eyes wide. "It says it's 2001..."
"Of course it is," Jen said, but her voice wasn't quite so confident.
Again, it was Eric who actually said it. "I knew something really weird was going on. An hour ago, we were in 2004."
"Are you saying you're from the future?" Jen said, scowling.
"Looks like it," Wes answered. "Or - we're in our past."
"That's impossible. How could you have-"
"We don't know!" Eric interrupted her. "It must have been some kind of freak thing. There was a thunderstorm. There was lightning, and this weird fog, and next thing we knew here we are."
"We didn't see any thunderstorm."
"It - it disappeared. How do you think we got wet?" Wes demanded.
"I don't know," Jen said with a strong tone of sarcasm, arms crossed and glaring at him. "How do people usually get wet on a beach?"
Suddenly inspired, Wes fumbled in his pockets. "Look. My driver's license. Issued in 2002. And this quarter is dated 2003. And..."
"You could have faked them." But Jen's expression was a little uncertain now.
"Just hold on for a minute. Let's try to figure this out." Wes faced the others, seeing the shadow of a frown cross Jen's face. She probably didn't like him seeming to take charge like this... so much the Jen he remembered, the one who had resented him for reminding her of Alex. The one who didn't love him, didn't even like him.
He shook off the thought. "You can see we've both got morphers. In fact, you can see there's two red Chronomorphers, the one you've got and mine. That's got to be proof of something."
"Well..." Jen frowned at him. "Okay. I'm listening."
"Good. Okay. Let me try to figure out what's going on here. Exactly when this is." He took a breath. "All of you got here a little while ago from the future, after Ransik escaped through a timehole. You found out you couldn't use your morphers without someone to activate the red morpher first. You asked me to do it."
"Yes. You turned me down and said I was crazy," Jen said.
"But I showed up when you were fighting Ransik, Frax, and Nadira in the street."
"Not fighting so much as having our butts kicked," Lucas muttered.
Jen shot him a glare. "Yes. You used the morpher and helped us fight them. Thanks. But after that I took the morpher back. I meant what I said then. We don't need your help."
Eric snorted. "Man, that sounds familiar."
Jen ignored him. "You're telling me I'm going to give the morpher back to you someday?"
"You gave it back a couple of days later. After Trip came to talk to me the next day, I understood what you were going through, and why you acted that way, and most of all how important your mission was. The next morning I came out to the beach and asked you to let me help. And you did. You let me use the morpher again. I guess I did okay, because you let me keep it after that."
"The next day?" Trip asked. "But - the time you used the morpher was two weeks ago. I - I wanted to go to your house and see you, but Jen stopped me." He gave her a guilty look.
"Two weeks ago... but how's that possible?" Wes frowned.
"You guys have been living here, instead of the clock tower?" Eric asked.
"What clock tower?" Katie said blankly.
Wes and Eric exchanged a glance. "What have you been living on? How have you gotten money?" Eric went on after a moment.
"We had to - to sell some things," Jen said after a pause. Her eyes fell to her left hand; her lips compressed.
"Oh, no," Wes said softly. "Alex's ring? You sold it?"
"How do you know about Alex?" Her face had tightened with anger again.
"Trip told me. Years ago, for me. Jen, Alex is-"
"Wes!" Eric's voice was raised just enough to stop him. "We need to have a word. Outside."
"Okay." After a curt nod from Jen, they walked out the door. By the time they were a few yards from the cabin and Eric turned to face him, Wes had guessed what he wanted.
And Eric confirmed it. "You were about to tell her Alex is still alive. Wes, she didn't find that out for months. You can't tell her."
"Why?" Wes waved at the cabin. "She's suffering. In mourning, for a man who isn't even dead."
"Remember how Jen and the others used to talk about interfering with the past? Now we're in that position. I don't think we should tell them anything we know about what's going to happen."
"But we could help them defeat Ransik sooner..."
"Maybe, or maybe we'd somehow prevent them from defeating him. And Wes..." He hesitated, reaching a hand to touch Wes's arm. "If you change anything, Jen might not fall in love with you. Have you thought about that?"
"Well - shit, you have a point." Wes cast another look at the cabin. "But - on the other hand - something's wrong. From what they told us, things didn't happen the same way I remember. Maybe this sounds crazy, but I don't think we're in our own past."
Eric sighed. "No, I don't think it's crazy. Did you take a good look at Trip?"
"I guess not good enough. What?"
"I don't remember a green gem in his forehead. But he's got one now."
"Yes, we're trying to capture Ransik after he escaped and stole a prison ship and a timehole generator," Lucas said twenty minutes later, starting to sound impatient. "If you're from three years in the future, you should know all this stuff. Why are you asking all these questions?"
"Please, just bear with me. Ransik, and Nadira, and Frax, the robot, right?"
"Don't forget Gluto," Katie put in.
"Who?" Eric asked.
"Gluto," Lucas explained. "Big, ugly, and stupid. Looks like a cross between a whale and a frog."
"Jesus. You never told me about him, Wes."
"Because he didn't exist." Wes slumped, suddenly feeling tired and defeated.
"What do you mean, Gluto didn't exist?" Trip asked.
"I never heard of him. There's other things, too, like the Circuit I remember didn't go flying around like this one. And - you didn't have that gem in your forehead."
"Wow." Trip stared at him. "If things were different in the past you remember... I have a feeling you guys aren't just from the future."
"What else could it be?" Jen asked. "Do you think they're from some kind of parallel dimension or alternate future?"
"It's possible. We've done some experimentation that indicates other realities exist, but we've never had any proof. Until now, I guess."
Wes thought for a moment, chewing his lip. "I guess it must be true, this isn't the way I remember things. They're not big differences, but still - this isn't my past."
"So - what now?" Eric asked. "How are we going to get home?"
They both looked at Trip. He shrugged. "Circuit and I can work on it, but we don't have any way to travel between dimensions."
"So for now, we're stuck here."
"I guess so."
"And we're stuck with you," Jen murmured. She offered a half-smile as Wes glanced at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean it quite like that. It's just that - well, this could be a complication."
"Maybe we could help you."
"Maybe, but I'm not sure we should let you. You're not supposed to be in this time, and if Trip is right, not even in this reality. Plus you know things about our future here, things we probably shouldn't know yet."
"Yes, Eric and I were talking about that." Wes smiled as Eric caught his eye with a vaguely smug expression. "But if we're from a different reality, the stuff that happened to us isn't necessarily what's going to happen to you, so maybe it doesn't matter."
"Maybe," she said. "But the two realities are obviously very close." She sighed. "No, it's best if you tell us as little as possible, and get involved here as little as possible. Best if you can return to your own dimension soon."
"Believe me, that's what we want, too," Wes said. "I miss my own-" He stopped himself just in time. "I want to go home, too."
"At this time, I was just about to get out of the army. I didn't have my house yet, didn't work for Bio-Lab yet; I hadn't met your father yet. Hadn't met Gaby. No one in Silver Hills knows me, except you." Eric was walking beside him, both of them outside again for another consultation, trudging slowly over the sand of the beach in the growing coolness of evening.
Wes stopped in his tracks. "Shit. I hadn't even thought... There must be another me here, living in my house. I can't even go home."
"Yeah, I guess not." Eric swept a glance around the empty beach, and out to the darkening horizon. "Our credit cards haven't been issued yet. At least some of our cash hasn't been printed yet. Our jobs don't exist. There's no one we can go to."
"We'll have to stay here."
"Not my first choice. But I guess you're right."
They were quiet for a while, just looking out over the ocean, but what Wes saw was a face... The same face he had been looking at minutes ago, but so different. Over the years he had almost forgotten the rocky start he and Jen had gotten off to. "I have to get back to Jen..." he said, almost to himself.
"Must be weird for you, being around this Jen. She doesn't seem to like you too much."
Wes frowned. "Yeah, she was like that at first. It's because I look like Alex. This Jen, at this time - she just saw him die, killed by Ransik. I'm just a reminder. She hates it that I look like him, and she hates it that I'm not like him in other ways."
"But she changed her mind."
"Yeah, she did. Of course, I changed too."
"You grew up."
"And I did it in a hurry." Wes glanced at his friend and partner. "Without me, they've got no home in this reality. No money. Maybe I can do something for them somehow."
Eric caught his gaze. "Watch out, Wes," he said softly. "This isn't your Jen. None of those people are the same ones you knew. They're not your problem."
"But they need help."
"How can we help them if we can't help ourselves? And you heard Jen. We shouldn't interfere."
"Well. Maybe." Wes turned to stare unhappily at the darkening horizon again. "What if we can't get back? What if we have to stay here?"
"Not an option." Eric's voice was as hard and determined as his face. "I don't plan on just giving up. We'd have to leave Silver Hills to avoid bumping into ourselves, and I'm not about to have to start all over again somewhere else. Worry about a job and a home again. Spend the rest of my life without Gaby. No way."
Do we have a choice? But Wes didn't say it. He swallowed back uncertainty. If they couldn't get home... There was no way he could be with the Jen of this time and this reality. Besides, Eric was right, she wasn't his Jen. The prospect of never seeing his own wife, his father, his home again was suddenly overwhelming. "Yeah, we'll figure it out," he said finally.
They turned back towards the cabin, side by side. Wes stole a glance at Eric's face, showing no sign on the surface, but the tension still coming through. No, neither of them wanted to show it, but they were both afraid.
TBC...