Wes couldn't believe his ears. Jen had been pregnant when she left him. He had a son. He and Jen had a son together. After hearing the news he went back to the couch and just fell back. He felt several different emotions going through him, shock, anger, joy, all combined into one. And finally, "Why didn't she tell me?"
Alex sighed heavily, knowing Wes wouldn't like the answer, but he owed Wes the truth. Wes deserved to know the truth. "I asked her not to." It hadn't been one of his proudest moments. And perhaps he should have handled it differently, but what's done is done.
"You what? Damn you, Alex!" Wes felt anger flow through him. He was about to jump to his feet and jump at Alex, until Eric held him back.
"Get a hold of yourself, Wes! Hear him out." Eric continued to hold onto Wes, until Wes stopped struggling. He understood that Wes was angry, but after having talked with Alex himself, Eric knew Alex had only done what he believed to be in the best interest for everyone.
"Fine!" He looked Alex hard in the eyes. "But it better be good."
"She wanted to tell you, Wes. God, she wanted to so much." Alex sighed heavily as he explained the situation. "But I asked her not to, and I can't say that I'm sorry that I told her that." Alex could see anger burning in Wes's eyes and he knew Wes had every right to be angry with him. Some days he found being angry at himself, but given the situation they were in, there were few options. "She couldn't stay with you, Wes; even if she did Time Force would have come and brought her back with them. And if they found out that she was pregnant and that you were the father..." Alex's eyes filled with great sadness. "And they would have." He gulped in hard, just thinking about it made him sick to his stomach. "And that would have been the end of it. I don't think I need to say what would have happened. I think you get the picture." He needed Wes to understand he hadn't done this out of spite. He had done it for one reason only.
Wes bowed his head down, sighing. The pieces were starting to come together. He finally understood why. Why Alex had done what he did. "That's why you married her, so everyone would think the baby was yours." Wes ran his hand over his face, feeling ashamed of himself for his behavior towards Alex. He had acted like a enraged jealous fool. "You were protecting them." Wes felt like hitting himself over the head. How could I have been so stupid?
"Yes." Alex nodded his head. "I want you to know that nothing ever happened between us, Wes." Alex smiled faintly. "She never stopped loving you." There was great sadness in his voice. He was the one who had gotten to marry her, and although he loved her with all his heart, she hadn't loved him back, at least not in the way he wanted her to. Not in the way she once had.
Wes felt a few tears leak from his eyes. Jen had never stopped loving him; knowing that brought some ease to his heart, but he knew it would be a while until the pain would go away. "H-How did she die?" he asked, choking on his words.
Alex sighed heavily, as he began to tell the events that had taken place to bring him to this very point. "When we returned to the future, shortly after we were married, she fell ill; we soon found out she had a deadly disease…"
3004
"I'm sorry, but without following through with this now there may be nothing we can do later on. I urge you, Mrs. Drake, that you terminate this pregnancy. If you don't you may not survive," stated the doctor.
Jen bowed her head down, sighing. She and Alex had been hoping there was something that could be done, but all their hopes died in that very moment. "And if I don't, the baby will survive? He'll be okay, right?"
The doctor smiled faintly and nodded his head. "Yes. The baby will be fine. Somehow the disease hasn't been spread to him," The doctor looked her right in the eyes. "Are you sure about this? We can try after the child is born, but I cannot guarantee you that it will work. I want to make sure you understand."
"I understand, and yes, I'm sure." It didn't even take her a minute to answer. She had always known what her answer would be and nothing would ever change that.
"All right." The doctor smiled and shared a concerned glance with Alex, who had remained silent through the whole thing.
Once they were alone, "Jen."
"Alex, I know what you're going to say." She turned to him, tears in her eyes. "And I can't do it. I won't do it! I already lost him and I'm not going to lose this baby too," She then broke down crying, feeling herself break apart as her whole world came crashing down. "It's all I'll ever have of him." She buried herself into his chest. "Please understand," she cried.
Alex quickly wrapped his arms around her. "Okay." He sighed heavily. He felt so powerless; there was nothing he could do. "We'll get through this, Jen." Alex bit his lip. "I promise."
"She chose to keep the child. She felt her son's life was more important than her own."
"It's my fault-"
"No!" Alex shouted. He shook his head. "No. It's not your fault. Don't ever think that!"
"But if I hadn't…If we hadn't….She wouldn't be…" Wes felt himself fill with guilt and doubt, as his voice broke apart.
"Even if you hadn't," Alex sighed. "She still would have gotten sick. In fact, getting pregnant may have been what allowed her to last as long as she did."
"What do you mean? If she hadn't been pregnant, she would have been able to go through the procedure."
Alex shook his head. "No." He bowed his head down, sighing. It was hard just to look at Wes, telling him everything that had happened. It was much harder than he had ever dreamed it would be. "We later found out it wouldn't have done any good. She was very sick, something that had been lying dormant for years until it slowly began to kill her."
"I don't understand. How would getting pregnant make any difference?"
"Because," Alex looked right into Wes's eyes, "Her son isn't just any ordinary baby."
And that's when it hit Wes, hard in the face. The baby, his son, would have been affected by the change in his very own DNA, giving his son an abnormal power. "He-"
"Yes." Alex nodded his head. "Your son has a special gift. He's able to create force fields. He was doing it inside his mother's womb, we just didn't know it. He was preventing the sickness from spreading to himself, and slowing down the process which would eventually kill his mother." Alex smiled faintly. "Because of him, Jen was able to last five years."
"Do you know what it was that killed her?" asked Wes.
"No, " Alex sighed heavily as he shook his head. "What doctors originally thought was wrong. They don't know what it was, some virus they had never seen before."
Wes didn't know what to say. It was a lot to take in. First finding out that Jen had died, then finding out he had fathered a son, and then finding out the truth, that she had never stopped loving him. "Did anyone else know? Trip? Lucas? Katie?" He wondered if his other three friends had helped with this secret.
"No," Alex answered shaking his head. "Both Jen and I thought the less they knew, the better. If the truth ever got out, we didn't want them to go down with us. To this day, as far as I know, they have always believed I was the father." Jen and him and felt guilty about not telling them the truth, but there was too much risk that came with the secret they were harboring and the less that knew it the better. "In the end, I think Trip knew, but neither of us would say it out loud."
Wes nodded his head, understanding the reasoning for Alex not telling the others. "Did she suffer?"
"No." Alex bit his lip to prevent himself from breaking down. He needed to stay strong, for Jen. He had promised her that he would explain everything to Wes, no matter how hard and difficult it would be. "Both I and your son were with her when she passed. She went very quickly, but before she passed she made me make a promise."
Wes became very alert, as if he already knew what it was. "Wh-What?"
"That I would unite her son with his father." Alex bowed his head down, sighing. "I was never able to fulfill the first promise I made. I tried to get her back to you, but I couldn't. She just became so sick and weak. She wouldn't have survived the travel through time." Alex could feel tears trying to force their way out but he held it together. It would have given up his own life if he could have only fullfilled that promise even if for just one minute.
"What about Time Force? What if they find out?" asked Eric, finally joining the conversation. Were they not still in the same situation they always had been in that caused Alex to take drastic measures five years before?
"They won't find out." Alex looked up to Wes and Eric. "A week ago, my time, we were pronounced dead. Died on a camping trip, during a heavy storm, no bodies were ever found." Alex then began to tell the events that led to this point…
3009
It had been three weeks since Jen had passed away. The young boy had become withdrawn, hardly eating, and barely getting enough sleep. His father, on most days, found him just sitting around staring at his and his wife's wedding photo.
Alex bent down and picked his son up. He sat down in a chair, placing the child on his lap. "Haven't you've gotten tired of looking at that photo?"
"I miss her," he answered softly, still staring at the photo, looking directly at his mother.
Alex sighed heavily. "I miss her too," he replied, kissing his son on the head.
"Did you love her?"
"Of course."
"Did she love you?" asked the young boy, looking his father in the eyes.
Alex smiled gently. "What do you think?" There was a knock at the apartment door. "Come in,' he called out.
Lucas, Trip and Katie came walking into the living room-kitchen area. Schuyler jumped out of his father's lap and went running into the arms of Katie. "Aunt Katie!" he yelled joyfully. "Uncle Lucas, Uncle Trip!"
"Hey there, little guy," said Katie as she kissed him on the cheek and set him back down on the ground.
"Yuck!" he said as he wiped the kiss off of his cheek. Everyone laughed lightly.
"So Sky, got a girlfriend yet?" winked Lucas.
"No. Do you?"
Everyone had to laugh at that. Lucas crossed his arms against his check. "Very funny, kid."
"So Schuyler, we're going to have some fun today. Today is your special day, we'll do whatever you want," said Trip, kneeling down to be on eye level with him.
"Really?" Schuyler turned to his father. "Can I, Dad?"
"Of course. I asked them to take you out today. I have a lot of work to do today."
'Yeah! I'm going to go get my coat." Sky went running into his bedroom.
"So Alex, when should we have the little guy back home?" asked Katie.
"Whatever works for you."
Now that was something that surprised all of them. It was very out of character for Alex not to give a certain time for them to return Sky back home. It was as if he was keeping something from them, but for the past five years they all had felt there was something quite odd about the relationship between Alex, Jen, and Sky; something had always felt off.
Even on their wedding day, something was awfully wrong with both Alex and Jen, even in the way they had kissed, and as far as anyone knew that had been the last time anyone had ever seen those two kiss. Months after their wedding Schuyler had been born, which everyone had guessed was the reason Jen and Alex had married. No one ever second guessed that Alex was the father. The kid was the spitting image of him, but they always wondered. But none of them would ever bring it up in front of Jen or Alex. The three felt that if it was something that they ought to know, Alex and Jen would tell them.
"How's he doing?" asked Lucas, knowing that Sky and his mother, in the short time they had together, had been very close to each other. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for him to lose his mother.
Alex sighed heavily. "Okay. About what you'd expect. It's just going to take time."
"I'm ready." Sky had his jacket on and was ready and raring to go and hang out with his 'aunt' and 'uncles'.
"All right buddy, let's go get the car," said Lucas, picking up the five year old. "You can drive!"
"Yes!"
"Oh no, Lucas, there is no way you're going to let him drive," yelled Katie, going after the two. "Remember what happened the last time!"
For a long moment Trip and Alex stared at each other in silence. Alex had always wondered if Trip knew the truth, knew the secret that he and Jen had been keeping. He knew the others had always suspected, but it was one thing to know and another to suspect.
"Make it a day to remember, Trip."
"Why do I get the feeling this is some kind of goodbye?" asked Trip, having a strange and worried feeling coming over him, a feeling of loss, of doubt and sacrifice.
Alex was silent. "I really have a lot of work to do, Trip. You should go catch up with them, have fun today, make memories."
Trip sighed and nodded his head. "We will….I'm sorry." In that moment Trip finally understood everything, but he wouldn't let on that he did, and he knew why. And if he had to he too would keep this information from Lucas and Katie; the less they knew the better. The less anyone knew the better.
"Thank you for everything, Trip."
"A few days later, my s-, I mean Sky and I left for our camping trip. Lucas and the others saw us off."
"You guys have fun now." Katie hugged Sky tightly. "You be good for your dad, okay?"
"Okay Aunt Katie, see you when we get back," Sky answered as he hugged her back.
"Okay, kid-o." Katie smiled sweetly.
Lucas bent down and handed Sky a pair of sunglasses. "Okay Sky, wear these and the ladies will be all over you." Lucas winked and patted the boy on the shoulder.
"Why would I want them all over me?"
Katie elbowed Lucas hard in the ribs. Lucas laughed. "Ah, we'll talk about that when you get back."
"Okay." Sky then turned to his Uncle Trip. "Bye, Uncle Trip, we'll play more space ball when I get back, right?"
Trip eyed Alex, as if sensing something yet again. He looked back to Sky and smiled. "Sure." He nodded his head and then kneeled in front of Sky, giving him a hug goodbye. "You take care, Sky." Trip then pulled away, smiling faintly as he looked the young boy in the eyes, wanting to hold on to this moment for as long as he could. "I'll see you when you get back."
"Okay. Bye!" Sky waved goodbye to Katie and Lucas. "Bye Aunt Katie, Uncle Lucas!" Sky then hopped into his father's car.
Alex approached the three and for a long moment just stared at them, as if it would be for the last time. "Um, here's the key to the apartment, so you can bring the mail in and stuff." He handed the key to Lucas. "Try not to have any wild parties."
"Oh, don't worry, I'm all partied out from the last one," grinned Lucas.
"Hey, you take care of that boy of ours." Katie smiled and hugged Alex.
"You have my word." Alex then faced Trip and handed him an envelope. "Trip, could you see that this gets mailed. I forgot to send it yesterday."
"Sure."
"Well." Alex stepped back, smiling faintly. "See you guys around." Alex then got into his car and drove off.
Trip watched longingly as the car drove out of sight, and somehow he knew.
"Hey, they'll be back in less then a week." Lucas gripped Trip's shoulder. "Stop acting as if we'll never see them again."
Trip smiled faintly and laughed. "Right."
"Come on, let's go catch a movie. My treat," said Katie.
"Sounds good to me!" Lucas followed behind Katie, leaving Trip behind.
Trip stood still looking in the direction the car had gone in, taking with it Sky and Alex. "Goodbye, Alex and Sky. I'll miss you both…"
"I had staged our car going off a cliff in a massive explosion," Alex began to explain to them how he staged both his and Sky's deaths. "And left behind our belongings, things we didn't need. And we traveled through time, using an old model of a time travel device." Alex then held out his wrist. It looked similar to their morphers, only with more buttons. "I checked the history banks; we both were pronounced dead." Alex licked his lips. "They won't be looking for us."
Wes didn't know what to say. Everything was happening so fast, it was overwhelming. And he thought everything with Space Patrol Delta was a lot to deal with. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do or say. He had just been handed the biggest responsibility ever, his son. The son he hadn't even known he had. There was so much he had missed, Sky's birth, his first steps, first word, first birthday. How was he going to explain to everyone that he had a five year old son?