Thank you, Sierra, for reviewing. Glad to see you were excited about an update. This chapter is for you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers or any of its characters.

Rejected

Alex walked into the docking bay where the final arrival of the rangers was being awaited. He felt he had to speak to her immediately. The yellow time ship landed as he walked into the room. He attempted to put on a smile for her to see. The rangers walked out, one by one. A few minutes passed and Alex began to wonder if she had perhaps stayed behind. Finally, she emerged; her face was tear-streaked.

Alex rushed up to her, longing to pull her close to comfort her, but then he realized she was crying for him, Wesley Collins. His face fell, but he continued on. "Hello, Jen. Katie, Lucas, Trip."

"Alex," Lucas replied before walking off with a scowl. That hurt Alex even more than he already hurt. He and Lucas had become friends when Lucas had finally gotten over asking a ton of questions. He was a pretty cool guy, but he had turned him away too. He was beginning to regret going on that mission at all. The only thing he had succeeded in was destroying any friendships he had.

"Hi, Alex," Jen answered timidly.

He looked down at her, hurt and the question of "why" flashing in his eyes as the tears threatened to spill out again. Not now, not now. Not in front of her. I will not cry…I will not cry! "So, um, good job on your mission. You did well as a leader," he commented.

"Thank you." Her voice was still timid. She was feeling uncomfortable, as was he. She knew she had hurt him by falling in love with Wes.

"No problem. Would you care to go on a walk? We have a lot we need to talk about, a lot we need to fix in order for –"

"Alex, don't say it. There is no us! There won't be, but, yes, I will talk to you about it."

Katie scowled as Alex walked off with Jen. Was he going to play on her sympathy? He knew her well enough to want to marry her; surely he knew how to push her buttons. She just hoped Jen would not go back to him, especially after the way he had treated them – even her – when he had come back. Part of her still sympathized with him though. He had been the one to tell them to come back because they would die if they did not. Perhaps he had been carrying that secret with him, but was too afraid to tell.

# # #

Alex and Jen sat down at their old childhood spot by the fountain. They had had so many good times there. "So, how was it being back in time for a year?"

"It was ok."

"And the team? How did they do?"

"We worked well together, I think."

"I appreciate you going back in time for me, Jennifer."

"No problem. I was just doing what you told me to, Alex."

"And then you met a problem and had to fix it, and the simplest solution was to let him on the team?"

"Yes. Wes did well. He was very helpful."

Alex cringed at the mention of Wes's name. "Why, Jen, why?" he asked with such emotion, Jen barely recognized his voice. She had never seen him sad before in all the years she had known him.

"I don't know, Alex. He just was so kind, so energetic. Nothing like the people back here. People seemed to be carefree back then, living life to the fullest, especially him. I admired that in him. He made me feel wanted, needed. I fell for him. For goodness sake, Alex," Jen stood, "I thought you were dead! I wanted so badly to see you again, but I realized I had to move on; you weren't coming back! I missed you so much. The nights I cried myself to sleep when I thought no one else was still awake! I loved you so much, and then Ransik just took you away from me, just like that! It made me realize that life is short, that I couldn't go on grieving for you 'til the day I died. Oh, Alex, it's just so complicated."

"If you loved me so much, why did you give me back the ring? We could have had it all when you got back, can't you see? Jennifer, I love you still. We could still have it all! Please…" his voice trailed off until it was barely even a whisper.

Jen stood, arms folded and tears streaming down her face. "Alex, I'm sorry. I can't. I love Wes now, not you. You would always live with the doubt that I was just using you as a replacement if I took you back now." Jen turned, realizing she still did love Alex – why else would she be letting him go?

"But you can't have him! Don't you see how foolish it was!? For you to fall in love with someone in the past, someone you will never have? He obviously moved on since I'm still here! It was foolish, Jen, o so foolish…"

Jen slapped him. "How dare you, Alex!? I –!"

Alex was standing now, looking down at her, his eyes glossy. "Look me in the eye and tell me you don't love me," he said, voice as even as he could make it. She turned her face. A minute passed, five, ten. "See, you can't, Jen."

"Alex, I don't love you! Can't you just let me go? I know I hurt you, okay!? Leave me alone. I'm so sorry, Alex, but I don't love you anymore."

"You can't agree to marry someone and then just out of the blue stop loving them! I still love you. I never moved on, never, even though I saw everything you and Wes did, every innocent look or smile or 'accidental' brushes against him. I saw it all. I saw it all! I love you still. You are the only woman I ever have or ever will love."

"Don't say that, Alex. There'll be someone else…someone who can love you more than I can. I'm just – I'm sorry."

"I love you, Jennifer."

"If you love me, then why didn't you let me know right away? Why did you not talk to me beforehand, before coming to the past? Way before then even? You had to have known I was there. I know you, Alex, and you probably made sure you could come back to work very quickly."

"Jen, I took a blade fighting for the future, no, fighting for our future, fighting for us to be together without any worry of one of us being killed in battle and any kids we might have had being left without a father, or a mother, or…both. A blade that killed me. Yes, Jen, I died. If it weren't for Captain Logan, I would have stayed dead. He gave us another chance to be together…Can't you see? Can you!?"

"Maybe it would have been better had he not," she said, the words hurting her as much as they hurt him as she watched a single tear fall down his cheek. She knew that she did not mean the words, that she was just trying to get him to leave her alone. She felt so confused now. She knew he was right, but she was stubborn, and she did not want to admit it.

Alex swallowed, his Adam's apple moving up and down quickly. He turned his eyes away, deciding what to do. He looked down at her once more before saying sadly, "Goodbye, Jennifer." He put his hand to her chin and rubbed it gently with his thumb with a small smile and left as quickly as his legs would carry him.

# # #

Alex hopped into his car and slammed the door behind him. He turned the radio up loud and drove off in anger. He was hurting right now so badly that he wanted to go back in time, fix his mistakes, alter the future just so that he had defeated Ransik so she would never have had to go to the past and they would be married right now and not arguing. But he knew in his heart of hearts that there would be something else brought on by that, whether it be Doomtron attacking in the future or whatnot.

Tears stung his eyes, and he struggled to see where he was going. It did not help that it was dark out, that everything was covered in darkness. Why, Jen, why did you do this? I need you. I love you! Alex pleaded with Jen in his mind until suddenly something felt wrong. His car suddenly dropped, lower and lower and lower! Alex braced himself for impact, knowing there was nothing he could do but wait for his car to hit the bottom of the cliff. It could not fly but a few inches from the ground, and not at all if it were dropping from high above. I love you, Jennifer Anne Scott, was his last thought before the car crashed.

# # #

Jennifer rushed into the hospital. What had Jesse meant that Alex was in the hospital? She could not make any sense of what he had said, for the man had been in hysterics. Jesse saw her and rushed up to her. "Jennifer, thank goodness you're here!"

"Yes, I'm here. Now, tell me, what happened?" Jen answered as she looked into the man's eyes.

"It's Alex; he got hurt…really bad. He was driving home, and I guess his car fell off a cliff," Jesse helped Jennifer to a seat.

Jen sat in shock. "Wh-what time was he found, would you say?"

"Someone saw him going off of it and called headquarters around 9:00. Why?"

"That was about the time he left me to go home…" tears stung at her eyes as she felt guilty about what had happened. "How badly hurt is he? Is he –?" she could not bring herself to think the word again.

"No, he's not dead, but he is pretty close to it. His neck was broken, his leg shattered… He's going to need someone to be there for him as much as ever now, Jen, and I was hoping –"

"That I would be the one? No, Jesse, I can't, not after the words we exchanged last night, not after I told him I don't love him anymore."

"Jen, none of that matters. You'll just be a friend."

"No, Jesse, that's just it. It's for his own protection emotionally. What if he reads into it more than what it is? I couldn't bear to put him through that again."

"I see," Jesse replied stonily. "Or is it for your protection? Maybe you're afraid that if you help him when he's vulnerable, you'll get to know the real him, the one you knew before he died. Maybe you're afraid you'll fall for him again."

"No, Jesse, no. That's not why."

"Look me in the eye and tell me you don't still love him, at least a little."

"I…can't." Jen looked away, tears brimming up in her eyes. "I can't."