Split

"John?"

John, who had been rummaging through JJ's cupboards vainly hunting for mugs, looked up at Lexia's voice. She was standing in the kitchen doorway, an odd expression on her face. Seeing she had his attention, she continued,

"Can I talk to you?"

It was on the tip of John's tongue to give the response his father normally did when asked questions along those lines, but something about the way Lexia was looking at him curbed the impulse. "Of course."

There was a long pause. Lexia looked down at her fingers, which she was lacing together and separating, as though they might have been the most fascinating things in the world. Softly, she finally managed, "Grandfather's dead, isn't he?"

The information hadn't officially been released, John knew that. He also knew that most of the Guardians, barring those who'd actually found Alexander Collins, hadn't been told. That was mostly because Paul had yet to have a chance to tell them but also because he didn't want to run the risk of it getting into the press before they'd had a chance to tell Wes. But, like most of these things, it looked as if it was creeping through the grapevine anyway. He sighed. "Yeah."

Lexia nodded, almost convulsively. "I thought so." There was a pause. "Am I supposed to be crying?"

John didn't know how to answer that question. That didn't seem to matter, though, because with the question finally voiced, Lexia's next words tumbled out,

"It's the first time someone I know's died...and I feel weird. I don't know what to say...do... What'm I supposed to be feeling?"

"I don't know," John admitted.

Lexia didn't seem to hear him. "Shouldn't I be more upset? I...mean he is...was my grandfather...but I can't cry...not for me...I...I mean...I didn't really know him. He...he was nice and everything...but I didn't know him. And now I won't know him...maybe I could cry for that?"

John could hear the thread of hysteria building in Lexia's voice. He started to stand up.

"But...for dad...he knew him. I could cry for that...but should I? I don't..." A sob caught her breath. "I don't..."

John wrapped his arms around her as the tears began to fall.

"I don't understand."

John hugged her close. "It's going to be all right, Lex," he murmured, hoping that what he was doing was helping. "It takes time, is all."

"But it doesn't stop...we have to keep going...how can we keep going?"

"Because you're not alone." He gently stroked her head. "You've got your family and you've got your friends...you've even got me." John added the last part in the hopes of raising a little piece of humour.

It worked. Lexia gave a hiccup. "You are a friend," she pointed out.

"Whatever you need me to be...to do...I'll do it," he promised softly.

Lexia shifted in his arms and looked up, her eyes still full of unshed tears. "Hold me?"

John nodded. "Of course."

~*~

Al stared out of the window of the SUV, his mind occupied by the news the Silver Guardian -- JJ, he thought the younger man had said -- had given them. His own family history stated Alexander Collins had died, peacefully, in his sleep at a ripe old age of ninety-five -- so this represented quite a change from the original timeline and Al wasn't sure what impact that would ultimately have on the future. It had to have some impact, though.

"OK?" Katie asked. Al just lifted an eyebrow. "Right, silly question."

"Turning events over in my mind," Al answered. "Wondering even if we succeed, what will we go back to."

"As cruel and hard as it sounds," said Lucas, not without sympathy, "one death isn't going to have too much effect."

Al snorted softly. "Don't bet on it, Lucas -- don't forget whose family we're talking about here."

Katie blinked. "Lucas knows?"

"Apparently," said Al dryly, "he's known all along."

Rob and Ven, who were the other occupants in the SUV, both snorted with what sounded suspiciously like suppressed laughter.

From the driver's seat, JJ called back, "Is this something I should pretend I didn't hear?"

"Probably for the best," Lucas agreed. "Though," he added to Al, "something tells me it's going to come out sooner rather than later."

"Not if I can help it," Al muttered.

"But will you be able to?" Lucas retorted. "Eric's going to know you. Jen probably will, too, given the history..."

"And Alice is on to you," Rob finished, sounding somewhat amused. "She just hasn't had the chance to call you on it."

Al groaned.

Katie gave his shoulders a squeeze -- the most comforting gesture she could manage in the limited space. "It'll be OK."

Al wished he could be so certain.

~*~

Alice watched as Paul's SUV pulled away. Getting Eric into it had been a task all its own. He was still semi-conscious from the sedative and thoroughly disoriented, but the worst of it was the meek way in which he accepted being essentially manhandled into the SUV. She shivered.

Turning back to the time ship, she saw Rick, standing on the exit ramp. Though she couldn't see his expression clearly, the slump to his shoulders and the way his head was bowed suggested, he was only one step away from breaking down.

"They're away OK?" he asked softly.

Alice nodded, heading back towards the ship. "Com...Paul's gonna take them to JJ's via home -- Mom thinks dad'll be better off sleeping off whatever it was Ven gave him."

"That..." Rick swallowed. "That makes sense."

Alice reached the ramp and stopped. "Do you want to talk about it?" she offered.

Rick dashed a hand across his eyes and swallowed again. "No...maybe in a while...when I've got my head round it."

"The offer's got no expiration on it." Alice smiled faintly. "Whenever you need me."

Rick managed a watery smile. "Thanks." He sighed. "How...how did m'dad seem to you?"

Alice frowned at the question. "I...quiet. I guess." She paused. "You're worried about him?"

Rick gave a deep sigh. "I don't know...yeah. A bit." Then he shook his head. "This is dumb -- I'm sorry."

"No, it's not dumb," Alice said. "What's wrong?"

Rick shrugged. "It's nothing."

"What's wrong?" Alice repeated, gently wrapping her arms around him. "I'm not trying to push, but...if you think there's something up...?"

Rick gave a shrug. "D'you ever have this feeling that someone's just changed the rules on you?"

"What d'you mean?"

"That's just it. I don't know...I just...something's different." Rick rested his head against her shoulder for a moment. "Something more than grandpa being dead and mom being really hurt."

"As different as in a replicant?"

Rick actually managed a chuckle at that as he moved to look up. "No -- not that different. Just..." He shrugged. "Different. I don't know. Not even sure if I'm making sense."

"You are," Alice promised. It was her turn to sigh. "I guess we'll just have to keep an eye on things."

"Is that enough?"

"It's the best we've got."

From behind them came a polite cough. "Um, guys?" Namir sounded slightly sheepish for interrupting. "The time ship's locked down -- we can go now."

Alice offered the Blue Ranger a smile. "OK." She looked at Rick. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Yeah -- let's go see what sort of a mess my sister and your brother have made of making coffee."

Alice managed a chuckle as she pushed up her sleeve to free her morpher. "John actually makes pretty good coffee," she said. "Beats the hell out of mine, at any rate."

"So there is something you can't do!" said Namir with a grin.

Alice tucked her arm though Namir's. "Oh yeah -- a few things." She linked arms with Rick too. "Set?" Both nodded. "OK -- then here we go." Alice pushed the teleport button on her morpher and the cove was devoid of life once more.

~*~

Kimberly watched Wes from beneath her eyelashes. She knew he had been given a tremendous shock by Paul's words -- JJ's explanation certainly had been -- and she could only imagine how Wes felt, hearing that his father was dead and his wife seriously injured. And yet... There was something definitely wrong with the way Wes was reacting.

Or rather, the way he wasn't reacting.

Rick had been visibly upset by the news, but Wes -- apart from a certain tightness to his expression that hadn't been there before -- appeared much the same as he had when they'd left 3013: Grim and determined. She sighed. It couldn't conceivably mean anything good, but she also wasn't the best placed person to call Wes on it. Besides, there were more pressing issues.

Kimberly sighed. What a mess.

~*~

John stifled a yawn as he crossed the grass towards SGHQ which, under the combination of arc lighting and the onset of dawn, looked even more of a mess than it had done the previous evening. The rest of the group were gathered in JJ's living room, debating what to do, but for John, that was easy. He'd promised Jackson he'd be back at three o'clock so that the older man could get some rest, and that was what he was here to do.

Ali can tell me later what I'm supposed to be doing.

The only thing that had made him hesitate in leaving was Lexia's mental state, but with Rick, her father, JJ and everyone else, John was fairly sure she'd be all right.

"You're early," said Jackson, as John neared him. "You did get some rest?"

John managed a faint smile. "Some," he agreed.

"Hm." Jackson frowned, then yawned widely. "Much as I would like to order you back for more, I'm in no shape to." Then the doctor frowned. "Where's Commander Miller?"

"Going to be a little late," said John. "But some reinforcements have arrived."

At that, Jackson's eyebrows shot up. "Arrived? From where?" Before John could work out how to answer that, Jackson added, "Or shouldn't I ask?"

John managed a wry laugh. "I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you."

Jackson merely shook his head and gave a shrug. "I'll take all the good news we have right now."

John sobered. "Have there...?"

"We haven't found anyone else," said Jackson, answering the half-voiced question. "The rubble is almost cleared and I don't think there's anyone else left in..."

"Medic!" The cry went up from those working on the rubble pile.

John gave Jackson a wry smile. "Famous last words."

~*~

Michael Zaskin groaned as he came round. He remembered being in his lab, working on some research notes. There was an explosion and then... Blank. He wanted to say that something had hit him on the head, but that didn't seem right. Not for the way he was currently feeling. His head hurt, true, but it reminded him more of a hangover than of something having hit him. Then there was the nasty, chemical taste in his mouth.

Kidnapping and drugging -- not necessarily in that order -- seemed like the most obvious cause. But who the hell would want to kidnap a research scientist?

Opening his eyes, he was only mildly surprised to realise that wherever he was, it was pitch dark. He guessed, from the ambient sounds he could hear -- the sound of his own breathing, mainly -- that wherever it was, it wasn't a particularly big cell, but more than that, he couldn't say.

"Ah, Dr Zaskin. So good of you to join me."

The disembodied voice was irritatingly familiar. Zaskin frowned. "I don't recall being given a choice."

"Very true," agreed the voice. "You weren't." There was a chuckle. "But you're here now -- and believe me, I plan on your being very useful."

"You obviously don't know me very well," Zaskin shot back. "If you think you can intimidate me, you're very, very wrong."

But the only response to that was more laughter.

~*~

JJ was still feeling shell-shocked as the last of the elders left his living room.

"Quit it, JJ," Alice warned. "Trust me, you're a part of this."

"It's not that I don't believe you," JJ answered, "I'm just... I'm not a Ranger; I'm just an SG grunt."

"You are now," she said and tossed him something.

Rick gave a chuckle. "Be careful what you wish for."

JJ turned the object over in his hands, and nearly dropped it in shock. A morpher? "What the hell?"

"Welcome to the Rangers," said the ever-smiling youth who'd been introduced as Namir. His smile widened more. "Guess I'm not the newbie any more!"

"Huh?"

Lexia shook her head. "Guys -- be fair a second."

"Not sure we have time to be fair, Lex," Alice pointed out.

"The least you can do is actually explain," Lexia retorted. To JJ, she said, "What Alice has given you is the sixth morpher of the set. She thinks -- and I don't think anyone's disagreeing," at that, Rick and Namir both shook their heads, "that you're the best person to use it."

"But...what about...?"

Before JJ could finish his sentence, though, John appeared in a haze of teleportation sparkles.

"Mom told me what's going on," he said. "Have you done it yet, Ali?"

"Just finished," Alice answered.

JJ looked between the siblings. "Huh?"

Lexia managed a grin. "John suggested you."

That little tidbit took away what was left of JJ's self-possession, given he'd been fairly sure that John didn't actually like him. John, for his part gave a faint smile and a nod.

"So where do we start?" Namir asked.

Alice looked around at the group. "Well, for lack of a better place to start, the Northland Collective site is where Frax had us."

"You want me to drive us there?" JJ asked.

Alice chuckled. "One, I think your SUV was commandeered when the Olds left; two, we have a much better mode of transport."

~*~

Trip followed Wes' lead through the Biolab research department. At not much after four o'clock in the morning, the place was deserted -- which suited them nicely.

"If I know the way dad thinks...thought," Wes corrected himself absently, "he's probably turned the whole research department over to this, so..." He tried a lab door and found it unlocked. "Any of the labs will have the current data. C'mon."

Trip glanced at Nadira, who was frowning. "OK?" he asked softly.

"It just feels weird to be here," Nadira answered. "This was where everything changed for me."

Trip smiled faintly and gave her hand a squeeze. "Long time ago."

"True."

Wes, meanwhile, had punched up the data currently held on the system. "OK -- that's what we've got. Is there anything else you need, Trip?"

Trip took up the seat immediately in front of the computer terminal. "Have you got the data Namir found?"

"Right here," said Nadira, holding out a dossier.

"All right." Trip paused and looked up at Wes. "Coffee?" he suggested hopefully.

Wes smiled. "Sure -- I'll see if I can rustle some up."

"Thanks." Trip looked back at the screen. Time to get to work...

TO BE CONTINUED...