Jessie's hand shot behind her and found the blaster, she took aim and fired just in time. She breathed a sigh of relief as the cyclotron fell to the pavement. Getting up, Jessie limped back to her police cruiser and saw the lights and heard the sirens of another Time Force Cruiser approaching. A young man got out and ran over to wear Jessie was leaned against her car.

"Captain Scotts are you alright?" his syrupy voice asked.

"I'll be fine." Jessie stumbled to get in the car.

The young man seemed worried and helped her get in, "Are you sure, I mean I can drive you home and we can have someone come and get your car."

"No really, I'm okay." Jessie tried to convince him.

"You look like you took a pretty ruff beating." His grey eyes were piercing hers.

"I'm fine, really. I just need to get home." Jessie assured him.

"Alright, but do you want me to report this to Admiral Logan?" The young man's voice was very smooth.

"No, I'll do it myself in the morning. He'll want information on the cyclotrons." Jessie replied.

"What? I thought that they were just a rumor." He seemed stunned.

"Apparently not and if they are anything like the one's I fought earlier we need some serious firepower." Jessie admitted.

The phone on his hip rang out, "Lieutenant Dawson we need you at the corner of 21 and Oakley. There was a break in."

He picked up and answered, "Alright I'm on my way." Looking at Jessie he said, "Go home and get some sleep. I'm sorry that I have to leave like this, good night Captain."

He disappeared into his cruiser and speed off up the street.

Jen was pacing in the living room of their apartment. She didn't know where Jessie was and it was unlike her to go out without calling. Jen didn't know whether she should call her in missing or go out and keep looking for her. She was just about to pick up the phone when she heard the door open.

"Jessie where have you been," Jen yelled coming around the corner. When Jessie came into the light though her voice immediately dropped. "Oh, Jessie what happened?"

"It was an ambush." Jessie replied sitting down on the couch and wincing at the pain she felt.

"Are you alright?" Jen was worried.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Jessie replied.

"What did this to you? It couldn't have been cyclobots; they don't have that kind of power." Jen helped her up and into the kitchen.

"Far from it, they were cyclotrons." Jessie told her.

Jen put an ice pack to Jessie's temple, "I figured that they couldn't just be a rumor. You don't hear about something with that kind of power and there not be some truth behind it."

Jessie took the ice pack from her, "Well if what I saw tonight is any indication of the power they have we are going to need to do some serious emergency planning."

Jen pulled up the sleeve of Jessie's uniform and began to clean her shoulder, "Any indication? Jess, you could have been seriously hurt."

"Jen, they could've destroyed me if they wanted to. It came down to me and a cyclotron; I was on the ground with my blaster about three feet from me and he was advancing with his blaster set to full power." Jessie replied.

Jen looked right into Jessie's eyes, "He didn't and that's what counts. Next time we'll be ready."

"I hope so; Jen if they did that to me imagine what they could do to the cadets and even some of the officers." Jessie was serious.

"We have a leg up on them though." Jen replied.

"What?" Jessie asked.

"You, you've seen how they fight and the strength they possess, we'll just have to revise our training programs and make them ready." Jen began to bandage her shoulder.

Jessie smiled, "You know, you remind me so much of mom."

Jen finished and looked at her, "I don't mean to." She hopped up on the counter beside her. "It's just that I think we can be ready, you know."

"That's not what I meant. You fixing my shoulder and cleaning me up, mom used to do that all the time." Jessie smiled.

"You know, I'm not trying to be her." Jen replied.

"I know and I don't want you to be. You're my big sister; it's your job to look out for me." Jessie laughed and nudged her arm.

"It's what I do best."

Jessie laid her head on Jen's shoulder and Jen laid hers on Jessie's. "I love you Jen."

"I love you too Jess." There was a pause as Jessie and Jen had a sisterly moment and then Jen finally said, "C'mon Jess, it's late. Besides, you need to get some rest."

"You're right. Goodnight Jen." Jessie lowered herself to the floor and began to walk to her room.

"Night, Jess." Jen watched her leave and smiled.

The next day at Time Force Headquarters, Jessie had reported everything that had happened to Admiral Logan and he was beginning a drastic revelation of the training programs. Jessie had been in her office catching up on progress reports and schedules for the students at the Academy when Lieutenant Dawson walked in.

"Hey Captain, how are you?" he asked sitting in a chair.

"I'm fine, a little sore but otherwise everything is good." Jessie replied.

"I'm sorry I had to rush off like that last night." He apologized.

"Don't worry about it; you didn't exactly have a choice did you?" Jessie laughed.

"Well if it had been up to me I would have made sure you had gotten home safely before I left." He smiled.

"Oh what, now I can't drive myself home?" Jessie teased.

"I never said that." He retorted.

Jessie laughed as she finished up her last of the progress reports.

"Since it looks like you're done for today, let me make it up to you. How about dinner? My treat." He asked.

"Lieutenant Dawson, I'm sorry but I don't want to jeopardize my position; I am your superior." Jessie told him.

"It's not anything like that, I promise; I just want to apologize, it's a friendly dinner, what's wrong with that?" He assured her.

"Are you sure that is all it is?" Jessie probed.

"I swear on my job." Lieutenant Dawson replied.

"Alright just let me make sure that I can get out of here for a while." Jessie picked up her phone and dialed Jen's number.

"Hello?" Jen answered.

"Hey, it's me. We don't have any plans for today do we?" Jessie asked.

"Not that I can think of. Why?" Jen replied.

"Lieutenant Dawson asked me to go to dinner with him; I was just checking with you to make sure I could." Jessie explained.

"Oh, who's he?" Jen mocked.

"I'll tell you later." Jessie replied.

"Jessie's got a boyfriend." Jen teased.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; whatever. I'll see you when I get home alright?" Jessie laughed.

"Have a good time Jess." Jen told her.

"Bye, Jen." Jessie hung up. "It looks like it's a yes, lucky for you."

"I'm sure you won't be disappointed." he smiled.

"I have to go home and change; where do you want me to meet you?" Jessie got up, grabbed her things, and started walking out the door.

"There will be no need for that; I'll be there to pick you up in an hour." He followed her.

"Why Lieutenant, you're so old fashioned." Jessie teased.

"I was raised to treat a lady right, that's all." He retorted.

"I'll see you in an hour." Jessie headed toward her car.

"I'll see you then; good bye Jessie." He went in the other direction, his eyes lingering on her.

Jessie went home and took a shower and started to get ready. She blow-dried her medium length brown hair and smoothed out her curls. She put on a pair of light blue jeans that were slightly frayed and a beautifully embroidered white halter top. She also threw on a brown belt and a pair of brown flip-flops. What can I say, it was technically a night off and Jessie couldn't remember the last time she had taken a night off. She had just finished putting the finishing touches on her make-up when she heard a car horn outside the apartment.

It was Lieutenant Dawson with his vintage Ford Mustang. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans as well and a dark green shirt. He wore his hair messy and a pair of brown tennis shoes. Jessie walked down the driveway and got into the car where he was waiting with the door open for her.

"Oh my gosh, I love this car." Jessie exclaimed.

"Thanks, it was my grandpa's; I just fixed it up and got a new coat of paint put on it. It was in pretty good condition." He started the engine.

"What, you didn't want to take me out in the lovely Time Force Police Cruiser?" Jessie smiled.

"It's a nice car but I think that you and I both have seen the inside of it way too many times." He laughed.

"So where are we going?" Jessie asked.

"You'll see when we get there." He replied.

They drove for about forty-five minutes talking and laughing, both of them enjoying themselves. Lieutenant Dawson pulled up to a sunlit beach that was amazingly vacant.

"Wow, it's so beautiful up here. How come there isn't anyone else here?" Jessie asked getting out of the car.

He was reaching into the trunk and retrieved a wicker picnic basket, "Not a lot of people know about it; my brother and me found it when we were kids."

"You have a brother?" Jessie replied helping him.

"Yeah, he's an engineer; he works with the computer technology that operates all of the alarm systems throughout the county." He began setting up a blanket and some pillows.

"So I take it he didn't want to go the Time Force route." Jessie sat down.

"No, he wanted to do something different for a change." He sat down beside her.

"What made you decide to go into it?" Jessie asked leaning back and letting the sun soak into her skin.

"I just wanted to be able to help people and I was scared of needles, so this was the only other option." He laughed.

Jessie laughed.

"What about you? What made you do it?" He questioned.

"My parents were killed during an armed robbery; Jen and I wanted to catch the killers and follow in our parents footsteps. Admiral Logan was the one who brought us into the Academy when we were young and we just excelled from there." Jessie replied.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea." Lieutenant Dawson was sorry he had asked.

"It's not a big deal; we've moved on, we still miss them of course but we couldn't have done anything to stop it." Jessie replied.

"My parents divorced when my brother, Drew, and I were still pretty little; we got thrown from house to house a lot." He admitted.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Jessie said.

He laughed at Jessie's bluntness, "Yes, it does. You learn to deal with it though."

Jessie and Lieutenant Dawson just looked at each other and the moment quickly became uncomfortable.

"Are you ready to eat?" He asked bringing food out of the basket.

They both enjoyed their meal; the lieutenant was a wonderful cook. Jessie was amazed by him and how honest and unscripted he was with her; she had always known him to be so serious. Lieutenant Dawson was taken aback by Jessie as well; not only was she beautiful but she was smart and funny and strong. He had admired her from afar at the Academy and longed for the chance to get to know her better.

After finishing dinner, they decided to take a walk down the beach. They were both quiet, just enjoying the rushing of the waves and the crashing of them on the shore. They were both barefoot by now; the sand was so white and warm. Jessie couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed herself this much. Lieutenant Dawson's hand accidentally brushed hers and she retracted hers back on instinct. He seemed embarrassed.

They had gotten back to their picnic spot just in time to watch the sun go down. Jessie lay down on the blanket beside him and she felt his arm closing around her shoulder. She moved her head to face him.

"Lieutenant, please I really don't think we should be doing this." Jessie shook her head, but deep down inside she longed to lay there with him.

"Please, call me Blake." He told her.

"I'm really sorry, Blake-Lieutenant Dawson; I could loose my job for this." It hurt her to tell him that.

"I know and I'm sorry; I just haven't met someone like you in a while. I apologize, it won't happen again." Blake seemed hurt.

"It's not you really, it's just this kind of thing is forbidden; we really shouldn't be here." Jessie stared into his eyes. It was a mistake; she became entranced by them and him by hers.

Blake began to lean in closer to her.

"Blake we shouldn't be," Jessie whispered; it was too late, Blake had kissed her and Jessie returned it.

Jessie hadn't ever felt this way about someone before. She knew that kissing him was wrong but yet, she couldn't stop.

Blake knew he was putting her in jeopardy, the last thing that he wanted to do to. He couldn't break himself away from her touch as much as he wanted to.