Alex/Wes, Jen, Trip, Lucas, Katie and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. Methos and Duncan belong to Davis/Panzer Productions. I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Alex Drake's Journal, March 16, 1996
They say you can't go home again, and they're right. I'm back in my own past, again, and again I know I don't belong anymore.
At least this time there's no danger of coming face to face with my former self. In 1996 I was finishing my last year of college, and considering whether to start working at Bio-Lab the way my father wanted when I graduated. I would end up taking the job, of course, mostly out of the lack of anything else to do. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Jen and the others hadn't come along; whether I would have stayed and spent the rest of my days as a company bureaucrat, and hating it, never becoming a Ranger, never discovering that I had been born Immortal.
It was also four years after I had graduated from prep school, where I had met Eric. He was in the Army, five years away from joining the Silver Guardians and running into me again. If we only had time, and if it wouldn't be against the rules... When I was in 2001 a few months ago I got to see Dad again, one more time, but not Eric. He'd just scowl at me or insult me of course... but I think I'd like that.
They say you can't go home again, and it's true. You can't recapture the past, the way Patrick – Methos - is trying to do.
It was smaller, but otherwise looked very much like the timeship they had ridden in, a sphere set on a narrow base with a conical drive section mounted at the back. Duncan frowned at it. Ugly things. Whatever had happened to ships that were designed to be beautiful as well as practical?
The others were still approaching cautiously, except Alex who glanced at him and shook his head slightly. "He's not here," Duncan called out.
"You can sense each other, right?" Trip asked from a few steps away.
"Right." Duncan watched as Lucas and Katie circled around the ship while Alex and Jen examined the ground for footprints. "He probably walked into town last night. You wouldn't catch him sleeping in a ship when he's got a comfortable bed available." Duncan rolled his shoulders, which he could swear were still stiff after a night bunking in their own ship.
"We kind of took off in a hurry, and we didn't know you were coming along. Sorry we don't have anything more comfortable than the chairs," Trip said with a hesitant smile.
"At least they recline. I've slept in considerably worse places."
"Yeah, I guess you must have. I mean, you must have seen so much history, done so many things..." Trip's face was alight with a mixture of friendliness and curiosity, as impossible to resist as a puppy.
"A few. You must have an interesting story, too. There aren't many Xybrians on Earth. What made you come here?"
Trip shrugged. "When I was a kid, Time Force sent some officers to my planet on a rescue mission after an earthquake. Or Xybria-quake, I guess. I still remember seeing them, in those white uniforms, saving people, helping us rebuild afterwards... I knew that was what I wanted to do too."
"I bet they were glad to get you. I've heard Xybrians can read minds."
Trip looked horrified. "That's not true! We can just sense things, like what a person is like, or what they're feeling, or something that's going to happen. Sometimes. Once in a while. It's not very reliable. But anyway, I guess I know what it feels like to be different." He paused, suddenly looking shy. "Lucas really didn't mean to be rude last night; you just took him by surprise."
"I know." Duncan smiled lopsidedly. "I've run into every reaction from complete acceptance to fear and hatred. Being called an Immie is nothing. At least nowadays I don't have to deal with people thinking I'm the undead, or a demon in human form."
"I guess. But - but since everyone knows Immortals exist, they're more likely to suspect what's going on when you don't get older."
"True, sometimes that makes it harder to hide ourselves. And most of us have found it's better to keep our immortality a secret, even now."
"Yeah. A secret." Trip glanced quickly at Alex before saying, "C'mon, I think we're ready to go."
Duncan followed more slowly. Trip seemed to have no problems with Immortals, Katie had been friendly, Jen and Lucas more reserved but not hostile in any way. They had accepted him for what he was, at least so far, but he had a feeling things might be different if they were to find out that one of their own was also Immortal. And Trip... Duncan frowned. Why did he get the feeling there was more going on under that green hair than what showed on the surface?
Methos took a final look in the mirror before leaving his hotel room. It felt strange to be back in this dimly remembered place again, odd to be wearing these clothes, using this name, literally stepping into the shoes of his past self. He was Adam Pierson again, the man who had first met Alexa less than five months ago, when she was still waiting tables at Joe's bar in Seacouver, Washington.
Joe was long gone now too, along with his bar. Methos wondered if he'd even recognize Duncan MacLeod's former Watcher if he saw him now. In time, the faces of companions, friends, lovers, wives; they all faded and vanished into the vastness of time, no matter how well loved. And Alexa? Closing his eyes, he reached into his mind and found the image of her face still fresh and clear, the way she had looked the night they had their first real conversation, the way she had smiled, and laughed nervously when he asked her out.
He had known women who were more beautiful, made love to some of them, even married a few. But somehow he had known immediately that she was different. Something in the fragility of a figure that bordered on thin, in the delicacy of her features, in the gentleness and vulnerability of her expression. Something so special that despite his long experience he had been reduced to a fumble for words as she approached his table. He hadn't really been surprised when she refused at first. He had been surprised when she turned back to him, hesitated, and asked a simple question, her expression - no hint of joking or flirtation - making it not so simple to answer after all.
"Why do you want to go out with me?"
"Because... the alternative is unthinkable."
He had been so happy when she said yes. So happy, but for such a short time. Until only a few minutes later, when he told Joe, and saw him turn away, trying unsuccessfully to hide his expression.
Dying. All mortals are dying, it's just a matter of when, only a difference of a few short years. That was what he had told Joe. It was true, a mortal's lifetime was only a moment for him, and yet Alexa's moment had been so short, so unfairly short. It did make a difference, for her, and for him.
Methos reached into his pocket, felt the smooth contours of a globe that just filled his hand, and glanced down as he brought it out. It glowed very faintly with a white, pearly light, an indication of the energies inside. He smiled as he dropped it back out of sight and started for the door.
They were an odd-looking group, Jen found herself thinking, even letting a little smile lighten her mood. Duncan MacLeod had been here before and was leading the way, his tall, rugged form striding briskly through the streets of downtown Geneva, streets that seemed narrow to her thirty-first century eyes as they wound their way between tightly packed buildings. Then came Lucas, Katie, and Trip, an unusual combination. Or perhaps not, in a city that at this time was a gathering place for people from all over the world. Finally herself and Alex, looking very much like the natives of this northern European city. At least their clothes wouldn't attract attention; Time Force had provided them with outfits suitable for the time period, and Duncan had obviously dressed for the occasion too.
"Twentieth-century Geneva..." she said, half to herself. "It's fascinating."
"Yes," Alex's voice answered from beside her. "The United Nations. CERN. Various international organizations. Plus it's a beautiful place."
"Have you been here before?"
"Yes. Quite a while ago. Don't really remember much, and it was different then."
"Yes, everything changes over a thousand years, doesn't it? Everything." They walked for a few more steps before she went on. "Alex, you were friends with Methos, right?"
He nodded. "At least I thought I was."
"Did you ever suspect he's Immortal?"
"I-" Alex seemed to hesitate. "There was a lot about him I apparently never knew," he answered after a moment.
"What's he like?"
He shrugged, half-smiling. "I don't know. Intelligent. Educated. Has an odd sense of humor. Didn't talk much about himself, just a remark here and there."
"But did he seem - well, different?"
"Everybody's different, Jen. Including you and me."
"Yeah, but we're human."
His eyes flickered in her direction, narrowing slightly. "Patrick - Methos - and Duncan are just as human as anyone else."
"Are they? I mean, no one knows where Immortals come from. They just appear, as babies. They don't get sick; they can heal almost any injury. They don't age, or die. That doesn't seem very human to me."
"They die."
"Only by having their heads cut off. Which seems to be kind of a hobby for them."
"The Game isn't a hobby. Some Immortals try to gain more strength by absorbing the power of those they kill."
"That's what I mean. What kind of people act that way?"
"And mortals are never violent, or greedy." Alex's voice was sharp, but then softened. "Immortals have the same human nature as anyone else. And there are plenty, maybe most, who stay out of the Game and just try to have normal lives."
"Really?" She shot him a sharp glance. "Since when do you know so much about Immortals? Or care so much?"
He shrugged, not looking at her. "Patrick was good to me once. And Duncan is trying to help. I care about them."
"Okay, I understand. But they're both good examples. Someone who's lived for over a thousand years must not even think the same way we do. All that experience, all those memories... We must all seem like children to them. Or pets, or something. In fact I'm really surprised that Methos would have been so much in love with that woman that he'd even remember her after so much time, let alone pull something like this to try to get her back."
"I'm not." Alex's voice was very soft. "Sometimes love is stronger than you seem to think."
"And why would he do it, anyway? I mean, even if he does save her from her illness, she's only going to live another forty or fifty years. On his scale, that's nothing. And they probably wouldn't stay together anyway. What happens when she gets old, and he's still the same? What happens if he has to leave and start over somewhere else? Is he going to end up telling everyone she's his mother or something? No, it just wouldn't work."
"Maybe not."
"I don't think it's fair to either one even to try. It can't last."
"There's no guarantee that a mortal relationship will last either. And even if it doesn't, maybe it would be worth it. Is love a failure just because it ends someday? I don't think so."
"Maybe not to someone who's got an unlimited lifetime. Everything ends someday, for someone like that. For us, it's different." She looked up at his face, finding it impassive and guarded. Just like always, never showing anything, not giving anything away, even when they were talking about such an intimate topic, one so close to their own lives. Responding to some spiteful impulse she added, "I'm surprised you have such a romantic attitude. You're always so - practical about everything."
"And I'm being practical now." His mouth curved in a smile but his eyes were distant, and a hint of irony crept into his voice. "Just think, Immortals are immune to disease. They can't have children. They're very experienced. The perfect lovers."
Still vaguely irritated for some reason she didn't really want to examine, Jen muttered, "Very funny. Lovers, maybe. But for anything more... those aren't the qualities I'd be looking for."
"I suppose not. Look, we're getting close to the hospital." He sped up a little, leaving her a few steps behind, as Jen found herself wondering exactly what she had seen in his face just then. He had been smiling, but there had been something - something cold and bleak in his expression that seemed vaguely familiar.
It came back to her just before she joined the others. Alex had looked - resigned, like someone expecting to be hurt but determined to show as little pain as possible. Just the way he had looked when she had given his ring back to him. With a pang of guilt she remembered what he had said only seconds ago... 'Is love a failure just because it ends someday?' He had been talking about them.
The air was fresh and cool on his face as Methos followed a walkway along the Geneva harbor, taking a minute to admire the view of ships and boats gliding over blue water that sparkled in the sun. The Jet d'Eau was active, sending a magnificent fountain shooting high above the surface of the lake. He smiled as a fine, wet mist blew over him.
Alexa had loved this walk, and this view. She had loved beautiful things: art, music, nature. All the things that he had determined to show her, to make sure she experienced while there was still time. When she had agreed to leave Seacouver with him, he had taken a leave of absence from his job as Adam Pierson with the Watchers - a job researching the legendary Methos, he remembered with a wry grin - and they had gone traveling.
"Oh, Adam, it's magnificent!" Alexa's face was alight with excitement as she beamed at him before turning back to look out over the vast panorama spread below them, the craggy formations carved out of the earth, the colors piled in layers in the rocky soil, the dizzying depths as the ground plunged from their vantage point to the bottom far below, where the thin silver thread of the Colorado River was barely visible. "I can't believe it's so - so beautiful! And so big!"
"They don't call it the Grand Canyon for nothing," he murmured.
"It's strange," she said. "You hear about a place like this. See pictures. See it on television. But nothing prepares you for the real thing. I had no idea it would be so breathtaking."
He watched her as she looked, taking in the sight, her face so eager, the brisk cool winter breeze lifting her hair and bringing a rosy flush to her cheeks. "No, nothing can prepare you for the real thing..." he said softly.
Methos blinked back the memory, realizing he had stopped and was staring out over the lake into the depths of the mountains. He reached into his pocket again, feeling for the reassuring surface of the regenerator, and then turned his face towards the hospital again and hurried on.
There it was, the feeling, the buzz that meant an Immortal was near. Alex tensed, staring out at the sidewalks from their watching place on a bench outside the main entrance to Sacré Coeur Hospital, partially hidden in the shadow of a tree. Duncan was with Trip and Katie covering the back of the building, just in case, so unless he had left his post it couldn't be him.
"What is it? Do you see him?" Jen's voice asked from beside him.
"Not sure. I thought... wait. There." He nodded as a familiar form caught his eye. Not a particularly unusual-looking man, not big, not small, not extremely handsome, not unattractive. Patrick, blending in perfectly in his twentieth-century clothing. Not Patrick. Methos. And of course he had sensed Alex too, and was coming to a stop, looking around apprehensively.
They stood up and Alex started for him, hearing Jen murmur into her morpher to alert the others. Methos stared at him for a startled moment, and then turned towards the hospital doors, obviously intending to get inside before them. But it was already too late; Lucas had been stationed inside the lobby and was even now blocking the way. Methos stopped again, and backed off.
"Imagine meeting you here," Alex said, and added in a lower tone as he moved closer, "Make things easy on yourself and give up quietly."
"I don't think so."
"I wasn't giving you a choice."
"You have no authority to arrest me here. Try it and the local police will get involved. I have a legitimate identity in this time and place. I suspect none of you do."
"Maybe not. But we can get you out of here by force if necessary." That sensation again, almost distracting him, but this time Alex knew who it was.
Methos felt it; his eyes widened and he turned to look as Duncan appeared behind him, Trip and Katie at his side. "MacLeod!" he exclaimed. "I - You're with them?"
"Hello, old friend. Can't say I'm glad to see you, under the circumstances."
"Nor I you." Methos took another step back, looking for a way out, but the six of them had him surrounded.
"I came along to stop you from doing this. To take you back home, to 3001."
"No!" A few people looked up as Methos' voice rose. "If you know why I'm here, you must know I won't give up!"
"And you must know we can't let you do it," Alex said. "Give it up, it's six against one."
"What are you going to do, fight me? Drag me back kicking and screaming?" Methos retreated again, away from the walkway. They followed, herding him into the shelter of the trees forming a small park near the hospital entrance, out of direct view and out of earshot of the people passing by. Jen, Trip, Katie, and Lucas hung back, watching, letting Duncan and Alex approach him.
"No need for violence," Duncan said, his voice soothing but his eyes alert. "We're all on the same side here. Methos, you must see that you can't do this. You'd be changing history. Endangering everyone and everything in our time. I know that's not what you want."
"All I want to do is save one life. Alexa should have had so many more years... You can't tell me there was any purpose in her dying so young! Or dying that way, gasping her life out, either in pain or so drugged she didn't know what was going on." He reached his hands out in appeal. "What harm can it do to let her live a few more decades? I'm not trying to make her immortal, not this time. She's just an ordinary person; how can giving her a normal lifespan change history?"
"We don't know," Alex said quietly. "That's the point. Any change can have unexpected results. Maybe in this case nothing would happen, but we can't take the chance. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?" Methos glared at him, his voice rising again. "You're sorry, but you'll let her die because of some remote possibility-"
"It's not so remote. When Ransik was in 2001, he and Frax almost caused a major realignment of the timestream that would have caused a catastrophic war between humans and mutants. It took us a year to prevent that, and to put history back on course. Because of his interference, the timeline in this general time period is still patched together, and very fragile. Even a small change could destroy everything. Even saving one woman's life."
"He's right, Methos," Duncan broke in. "I know how much Alexa meant to you, but you have to understand-"
"What if it was someone you cared about, Mac? Someone you loved? What if it was Tessa? If you had the chance to prevent her death, would you let anyone stop you?"
Duncan blinked, a hint of pain crossing his eyes. "I - As much as I'd want to save her, no, I wouldn't do it. Not when it's so dangerous to everyone I know and care about now."
"Is it really so dangerous? That's a little hard to believe!" Methos turned his angry gaze back on Alex. "You're a damn hypocrite, talking about changing history when you've done it yourself!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that when it was your own father, you didn't stop to think about history! You went back in time, and you saved him!"
"That was different," Alex said tightly. His eyes moved involuntarily to Jen's face, finding her staring at him. "He wasn't meant to die."
"Different because it was someone you cared about? Not meant to die because he was your father?"
"Alex, what's he talking about?" Jen asked.
"Nothing."
"I'll tell you, if he won't," Methos snarled. "Your leader here joined you in 2001 to help you against Ransik, but that wasn't the only reason he was there. No, he did something a little extra, didn't he? He saved Alan Collins!"
"Yes..." Jen faltered. "He saved Wes's father, but..."
"His father! His!" He glared at Jen and swept a glance at the others. "Don't tell me none of you ever suspected the truth. You're all so blind... Alex Drake is Wes Collins!" As they all stared at him, frozen, he pointed at Alex. "How else do you think he could have used that morpher? Why do you think he still has it now? They're the same damn person! An Immortal, just like me or MacLeod!"
"What?" Katie exclaimed. "You're lying!"
"I'm not the one who's been lying. Tell them, Alex! Admit it!"
They had all turned to look at Alex now, except MacLeod. He faced the barrage of their incredulous gazes as Lucas, Katie, and Trip drew closer to Jen. She took a step forward. "Alex?" she whispered.
"It's true." He felt his heart sink at the shock that ran over her face.
Lucas and Katie exchanged an astonished glance. "No, it can't be..." Lucas said. "I don't believe it!"
"It - it would explain a lot," Katie said hesitantly.
"You - you and Wes... I - I don't understand..." Dismayed, Alex saw Jen raise a hand to her mouth as she swayed slightly. He started for her, but stopped as Katie stepped to her side and put a supporting arm around her.
"It's not his fault, Jen," Trip said, pausing and then rushing on. "I mean, can't you understand why he didn't tell us? When we met him as Wes, he didn't even know, and then as Alex he didn't want you treating him like a - like he was different from us..."
"You knew about this?" Lucas demanded, his expression turning abruptly from disbelief to anger as he glared at Trip. "And you didn't tell us?"
"Leave him alone, Lucas!" Katie cried, and in the next breath, "Trip, how could you not tell me?"
"Alex..." Jen was still staring numbly, her eyes dazed. "You're... you're Wes?"
Silence, as three pairs of eyes focused on him again. "I used to be Wes," he said as calmly as he could over his racing heart. "I was Wes when we all worked together in 2001. A thousand years ago, for me. But yes, I grew up as Wes Collins. And yes, I'm an Immortal."
More silence, as Lucas's face reddened. "I can't believe this!" he burst out again.
"I never would have suspected..." Katie said faintly.
"He had us all fooled." Jen's face was white, and her voice quivered slightly. "Especially me."
"Jen, it wasn't like that..."
"Uh, guys?" Trip broke in. He pointed. "Where did they go?"
Alex spun around, to find himself staring at trees and bushes. The five of them were alone. Methos and Duncan had disappeared.
TBC...