Rated PG-13: language, sexual references in this section, including slash elements.
A/N: This chapter refers to events in my two TF fanfic series (one gen, one slash), in both of which Wes was seriously injured in incidents taking place after the end of the TV show.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Wes scrambled away, almost falling off the edge of the bed, found his feet and stood up. Belatedly he realized that he was completely naked, not something that would usually bother him in front of Eric, but now... He grabbed for the edge of the blanket, pulling it up to cover himself.
Eric was watching him with a bemused expression. "Are we playing a game? Virgin schoolboy? Would have been nice to have some warning, but..." With a predatory grin, he rose to his hands and knees and started to stalk over the bed towards Wes. "I'll bite. Literally."
Wes yanked the blanket loose and clutched it around his waist, backing off, trying not to sound panicky. "What are you doing?"
"Man, you're good at this." Eric, also naked, stepped off the bed and came after him. "No use trying to run, I'm gonna get ya!"
"Eric, cut it out!" Wes took another step backwards and bumped into the wall. As he looked around for the door, Eric was on him, pressing against him, trying to kiss him as he turned his face. Wes pushed him off with one hand while not letting go of the blanket with the other. Eric, with another grin, reached down and tried to pull it away, then slipped a hand underneath...
Acting on reflex, Wes struck out, his fist connecting solidly with Eric's cheek. Eric staggered back, eyes wide and a hand to his face as pure shock and a flash of hurt came and went across his expression, replaced by a hot flush of anger.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
"You grabbed me! What the hell's wrong with you?"
"Have you gone crazy or something? If you want to play that rough you're with the wrong guy!"
"I don't - I don't understand this! What's going on?" Wes stared around again in confusion. "Where are we? How did we get here? What happened?"
"Wes..." Now concern had replaced anger in Eric's face. "We're in my house, of course. Are you feeling all right?"
"No, I'm not all right! I saw the beach... that's where we were supposed to be! Did Merlin make a mistake?"
"Wes, just calm down." Eric held up his hands, his voice becoming slow and reassuring, as if he was talking to a frightened child. "Everything's okay. You must have been dreaming, but you're here with me now. Why don't you come back to bed?"
"Dreaming..." And with crushing certainty, Wes realized what must be the truth. "I was supposed to go home, but this - this isn't home... Where am I?"
"Do you want to go back to your house?" Eric sounded hesitant, and looked worried. "Whatever you want. I'd better drive you. Maybe your father can help." He stepped closer and reached for Wes's arm.
Wes pulled away from his touch, retreating another step. "Just - just wait a minute," he muttered. Eric's house. Yes, he recognized it now, even though he had only been in the bedroom a couple of times - but it was wrong; this was the way it had looked before Eric had redecorated when Gaby had moved in. It was definitely another alternate reality.
When Wes looked at Eric again, he had stopped and was standing with an expression of frozen shock, staring. "Your scar..." he said faintly.
"What?"
"The scar, from when your ribs were broken."
"You mean when I was shot?"
"No - when you were crushed in that warehouse door - it's on the wrong side!"
"The wrong side?" Wes closed his eyes for a moment, fighting off dizziness. It couldn't be - and yet it was the only explanation. There must be another Wes Collins here - a Wes Collins with a scar on the other side of his chest. And there must be another Eric, too - the Eric who was staring at him now.
"Oh my God..." Wes pulled the blanket tighter and took a deep breath. "I - I seem to have changed places with the Wes Collins in this reality somehow."
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm from another dimension. An alternate universe. We've been bouncing around from one reality to another, and I thought this time we were going to get back home, but it didn't work."
"Another dimension? You're not making any sense."
"You said my scar was on the wrong side. How do you explain that? I'm not the Wes you know, I'm from - another reality. Another timeline or something." He went on as Eric stared. "The Eric from my world and I were shifted from our own dimension to another one in a - a freak storm. He was with me... we've been trying to get home... we changed realities again - and suddenly I was here."
"That's crazy! How could something like that happen?"
"How should I know? There was a sort of fog - and when it was gone, we were just - somewhere else! This is the fourth time now! I don't know why, or what caused it, but it just happened!"
"Then - then where's my Wes?" Eric's face had lost color.
"I don't know. I think my Eric got back okay, but I'm not even sure about that. I can't believe this."
"You can't believe it? I'm wondering if I'm the one who's dreaming." Eric sat heavily on the side of the bed.
Wes watched him, reminded that they had both been in that bed only minutes ago - and there was no escaping the implications of that. "Are you - and me, the other me...?"
"Are we what?" But Eric obviously knew exactly what he was asking; his face had gone hard and blank as he looked up.
"Are you - you know..." He gestured vaguely at the bed.
"Gay? Lovers? That's right. And you're not?"
"No. In my world, I'm married to Jen, and you're living with your girlfriend."
"I'm straight?"
"The Eric I know is." Wes blinked, fighting not to show the depth of his disappointment and renewed fear. And the frustration, as he struggled to think of what to do next. He looked at Eric - the other Eric - again, sitting there, still unselfconsciously nude. "Jesus. Put something on, will you?"
"If that's the way you feel about it." Eric shrugged, his expression becoming coolly indifferent, and reached for a pair of sweatpants lying on the foot of the bed.
"Can I - is there anything I can wear?"
"There's your clothes. His clothes."
Wes saw jeans and a t-shirt draped over a nearby chair. He reached for them, started to turn his back, thought better of it, dropped the blanket over the chair and started to pull on the pants behind its flimsy barrier.
"Don't worry, I won't look," Eric's voice growled.
"I just want to get out of here."
"Fine with me. But I want my own Wes back first!"
"And believe me; I'd rather be with my own Eric!" They stared at each other tensely. "Is my car here?" Wes demanded. "Do I have a car?"
"Yes, it's here. But I'm going with you."
"Don't bother. I'm going to - going to..." Abruptly Wes sagged, hopelessness seeming to crash down on him. He slumped into the chair, hunched in despair. "Damn it, I don't know what I'm going to do. Thought this was all going to be over... and now I'm stuck here, and Eric's gone, and I'm alone, and I don't know what went wrong, or how to fix it, or where to go..."
A few seconds of silence passed before he felt a touch on his shoulder. It was quickly withdrawn, and he looked up to see Eric's face watching him, the harshness almost gone. "You're not alone," Eric said. "We'll figure something out. Don't worry."
"A storm?" Dr. Michael Zaskin's face was both curious and concerned. "There hasn't been any storm like that anywhere near Silver Hills for weeks."
"It's only in the dimension we leave, then it's gone when we're in the new one. In each place, each reality, it's shown up after a day or two. After-" Wes hesitated, unwilling to mention his theory of there being something they were supposed to do in each dimension. Suddenly it sounded silly. And there seemed to be no way it applied here; in fact he had just messed things up for this Eric and Wes. "Well, after we've been there a while." He took a breath, glancing around.
They were in his father's office at Bio-Lab: Dr. Zaskin, Wes, Eric, and Wes's father, who was pacing restlessly. The room, and in fact everything he had seen so far, were identical to his own world.
"I saw the beach outside Silver Hills. My Silver Hills, I'm pretty sure. I think my Eric got there okay. He was just ahead of me, and I stopped to say goodbye, and I could see something happen to the - the doorway or whatever it was. It must have changed somehow, and it brought me here. Very close to my own world. The same time, but not quite the same reality."
"And it switched you with the Wes who belongs here?"
"Yeah, I guess. Maybe he's in my reality." With Jen, he couldn't help thinking. Not that he had to worry about that situation, as a glance at Eric's stony face reminded him.
It had taken a while to convince his father, and then to go over the whole thing again with Dr. Zaskin. Wes was tired, discouraged, hungry but without appetite. He looked up at the three men staring at him, three people he was very close to... and yet they were strangers. He couldn't remember ever feeling so alone.
"Do you think that storm will come back again?" Collins asked, his voice tight.
Wes shrugged unhappily. "I don't know. This time feels different somehow. I hope so; it's my only chance of getting home. Unless you have any ideas...?" He looked at Zaskin hopefully.
"Dimensional gateways are a little out of my scientific experience. I'll talk to my people, but... frankly, I don't think we can help."
"Then I guess all I can do is wait."
"Not good enough," Collins said. "I want my own son back."
"But how?" Eric asked.
"Well - what about Time Force? Can't they help?"
"They don't have dimensional travel as far as I know," Wes said.
"But their science is more advanced than ours. They could at least try. You've got that communicator. Ask them."
"There's one here, too?" Wes felt his mood brightening now that there was a ray of hope. "Where is it, at the house?"
"No, here at Bio-Lab, locked up in a secure area," Eric said.
"Show me the way."
They decided only Wes and Eric would contact the future; that was the way they had always done it in the past and both of them knew Time Force preferred to keep it that way. In about fifteen minutes the two of them were alone again, in a small windowless room inside the Silver Guardian headquarters. The chrono-communicator was the same too, and Wes had no trouble helping Eric to set it up and turn it on.
"When they get the signal they'll forward it to Trip, Lucas, or Katie, if they're on duty," Wes said.
"Yeah, I know. Done this before." Eric leaned back, arms crossed, staring, his face cool and unrevealing. It was almost the first time he had spoken directly to Wes since the ride from his house to Bio-Lab.
'Wes and I are careful in front of other people. We only spend the night together once in a while. Your father knows about us. No one else. I'd appreciate it if you keep it that way,' he had said, eyes firmly on the road ahead. Wes had promised of course, the harshness of Eric's profile making him think uneasily about what it would be like to be forced to keep that kind of secret.
Eric had thanked him. After that, to Wes's dismay, he had begun acting as distant as a stranger, as if the last three years of friendship between them had never happened. Which they hadn't, of course, in this reality. It was disconcerting to remember this wasn't the same man he had known, worked with, and fought alongside. Even more to know this Eric looked at him in a different way, felt about him very differently, and wanted things he could never give.
"You don't like the idea that another version of you is gay, do you?" The sudden question startled him.
"It's just kind of strange."
"Why should it be strange?"
"It's a natural reaction, isn't it? How do you feel about the Eric in my world being straight?"
Eric shrugged. "Why should I care? He's not me."
"He sure isn't," Wes muttered under his breath. With a frown, he returned his attention to the communicator, studiously ignoring Eric as they waited for a response to their signal. After what felt like an unreasonably long time but was only a few more seconds, an image began to form over it, between the twin antennae. It wavered, and steadied, becoming the face of a dark-haired man, his mouth moving into a brief smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Wes. Eric. Good to see you again."
"Alex!" Wes smiled uncertainly. It had always felt a little strange to look into the face of his double in the future, plus the fact that this wasn't quite the same Alex he had known.
"Why are you contacting us?"
"We've got a problem."
For the third time that day, Wes told an abbreviated version of his story, expecting doubt and disbelief. A mysterious storm - shifting in and out of dimensions - it sounded incredible even to him, as he said the words. And even if they believed it, would they really be able to help? This felt like his last chance... With a feeling of misgiving, he finished by telling how they had decided to contact Time Force.
Alex had stared at him silently through the entire speech, his expression not changing from quiet attention. After a few moments of waiting, Wes asked, "Well? Do you believe me at least?"
"Actually, I do. We have kind of the same situation here."
"What do you mean?"
"We have someone from another dimension who's switched places with the person who belongs here. Just like you. Can't be just a coincidence."
"Really? Do you have a way to switch them back? Can you do the same thing for me?"
"I don't know if we can do anything for you. Wes, I think you need to talk to someone else. Hold on."
It took a few minutes. Alex's face disappeared, leaving the image of an empty office. Then it blanked into featureless gray, leaving Wes to stare at it impatiently. Eric was watching him again; he could almost feel those intent dark eyes boring into him, but he refused to look, to acknowledge the tension between them. It increased until he was almost relieved when Eric spoke, despite the faintly mocking tone of his voice.
"Sorry if I make you nervous."
"You don't," Wes lied.
"You won't even look at me."
Wes glanced at him and turned his eyes away again. "You're doing enough looking for both of us."
"Don't worry, I don't go for straight guys."
"Good."
They fell into uneasy silence again, as Wes found himself wondering just what Eric saw - what he was thinking, whether he was remembering the two of them together, the things they must have done with each other... It wasn't me, he reminded himself, it was the other Wes, nothing to do with me. No logical reason to be uncomfortable about it, and yet Eric was right, the situation made him nervous. Of course, part of that was the way Eric was acting, the way he seemed to be almost hostile now. Resenting him for not being the person he wanted, maybe.
Finally, to his relief the communicator began to flicker, brighten again, and form a new image, one that sent all other thoughts out of his mind. Should have expected to see her, he realized. Still, the sight almost brought tears to his eyes, it was so familiar; that face he had begun to think he might never see again.
"Jen!"
"Hello, Wes."
His first thought was that she looked tired. Tired, but smiling at him, a little tentatively. He almost reached for the screen to trace the line of her cheek, but forced himself to remember that this wasn't his Jen. It was someone else, who had known another Wes - a Wes who hadn't loved her, at least not the same way. "This is kind of weird," he said awkwardly.
"For both of us. But... we have something in common."
With sudden insight he realized why she was the one talking to him. "You're the person who's changed dimensions, like me?" he asked.
"Yes. More than once. Again like you, I'm told. In each one I've changed places with the Jen who belongs there. Each time I've found myself in a different situation, a different life. Seems like every possibility has happened, somewhere..." Her eyes had lost focus. "In this one, my other self is engaged to Alex again."
Wes hesitated, unsure of what to say, or even how he felt about that. "In my world, we're married," he said finally. "My Jen and me."
"You and me, married?" Her eyes flickered with some strong emotion, quickly hidden. "How could that be possible?"
"It's a long story. Basically there were a lot of changes in the timeline, and you - I mean she - came back from an alternate future that ended up being wiped out. She was sort of absorbed into our time."
"Interesting. I saw the recording of what you told Alex about the other dimensions you've visited. Tell me about yours. Did your Jen work for Time Force? Follow Ransik into your time?"
"Yes, of course. That's how we met. We defeated Ransik after about a year."
"What about your version of Alex? What happened to him in your world?"
"He's okay. He has a new girlfriend now. They came to our wedding."
"I see." Only a blink revealed her reaction.
"Jen, what's going on? Do you know what's causing this?"
"It's our fault." She looked down at her hands. "In my own dimension, Alex led a project researching alternate realities, worlds that spring out of some basic difference: an alteration of a rule of nature, a choice that sent history in a completely different direction. Alternate possibilities, alternate universes, coexisting in parallel. We found a way to detect them, and to travel between them. We began to experiment. I volunteered as a test subject, to exchange places with my other self in several dimensions, just for a day each time. It was the only way we had to collect more information. We didn't realize... well... some of the ways it could go wrong. Like this."
"You mean Eric and me?"
"What happened to you must be a side effect, an echo of the transfer effect in your time. The experiment was focused on the different versions of me, so maybe it happened because your Jen is there with you, in 2004. I don't know why it would have shifted both you and Eric before, but this time it seems to have switched you with your double, the way it was designed to do with me."
She smiled, just a little, but her eyes were anxious. "We're starting to work on a way to reverse the effect on you, if we can. It's also possible that it may correct itself, that the natural forces separating the dimensions will put you back where you belong, sooner or later."
"But - when?"
"At this point we just don't know when, or even if. I'm sorry."
Wes tried not to show disappointment, tried to concentrate on hope. "I'm sure you can do it. Will you let me know what you find out?"
"If I can. Wes, believe me, if we'd known this could happen we would never have endangered you."
"I know. It'll be okay."
"I hope so. Good luck."
"And to you." Wes had started to reach for the switch when her voice stopped him.
"Are we... are you and your Jen - happy?"
"Very. That's why I want to go home so badly."
She smiled, but there was a sad quality in it. "Infinite possibilities... I'm glad for you both." Before Wes could respond, she had cut off the link, and the image faded to nothingness.
"So that's it? We just wait, while Wes is stuck in your dimension, and you're stuck here?" Eric was on his feet, eyes alight with frustrated anger.
But Wes was in no mood to be sympathetic. "Looks that way. Unless you have a better idea."
"Shit!" A moment later the door slammed behind him, leaving Wes with only his own unpleasant thoughts for company.
TBC...