04/03/3001

Six months had passed, but it didn't seem possible that amount of time had gone by. It felt just like yesterday, when Wes had sent them back. She could still hear his voice, how brave he sounded with what was ahead of him, still see his face… Jen felt a tear slip down her cheek.

Stop it Jen, that was a long time ago. She quickly wiped it away and continued to punch away at the punching bag. Breaking down in tears about it again wouldn't get her anywhere. She had shed enough tears over his death. It was time to move on….at least that's what she kept on telling herself.

It had been a little over a week since she was promoted to Lieutenant. She hardly saw the others anymore. It was as if they had become strangers now, just passing each other down the hall, quick glances and waves in the lunch hall. But the truth was she couldn't stand being around them, it was too difficult. She had all these memories of the months they had spent together, but no one to share them with. They didn't remember ever going into the past; they didn't remember battling against Ransik and meeting Wes. Nothing. It never happened for them; as far as they were concerned Wes never existed.

Some days she wished Alex hadn't done what he had done and her memories had been erased. At least then maybe it would make things easier for her. She wouldn't have all these memories that only seemed to be holding her back from ever being able to move on with her life.

Wes…Why'd you send us back? Why'd you have to face Ransik alone...? Angry, Jen continued to punch and jab at the bag with fierce and powerful strength, filled with rage. No one knew who or what Jen was thinking of when she was pounding against the punching bag, all but one…

Alex knew the truth, ever since he had told Jen what had happened to Wes. She had become filled with this rage and anger and could snap at any moment without warning. It had been hard telling her. She had cried for days and then one day she had come in to work and that's when everything had changed. He had tried talking to her, but everything would get turned around and they would start arguing, which eventually led to them no longer being partners in Time Force. Jen had put a request in to Captain Logan, asking that she no longer be partnered with Alex, or anyone for that matter. She had slowly drawn herself away for Katie and the others. And spent most of her time training and catching criminals alone.

He never would admit it, but it had hurt, more than he wanted to admit. He knew he would never have the relationship he once had with Jen, but he had never thought that it would come to the ending of a friendship.

"Jen…" Alex announced as he stepped into the training room. He was getting ready to head on home when he had passed by and saw Jen working out. It was after hours, everyone was either home or on night duty.

"What do you want, Alex?" she answered harshly.

"It's late. You should go home and get some sleep."

"I don't need sleep." Jen continued to punch the bag hard, hoping Alex would take the hint and just leave her alone.

"Yes you do, Jen!" He had had about enough of Jen's attitude, because he knew sooner or later what she was doing would kill her. And that scared him more than anything. "You've been working nonstop ever since I told you about Wes. If I knew this was going to happen I wouldn't have told you."

"How dare you!" she snapped, and turned to him. "How dare you bring him into this!" Already she could feel herself breaking apart, as much as she wanted to deny it. She wasn't over his death. She held her tears back. "After what he did for us!"

"Jen, look at yourself, look what you're doing to yourself. If you keep this up, you'll end up dead." He looked her hard in the eyes, he had to, he needed to get through to her. He might have lost her as his future wife, but he wasn't about to lose her as a friend. "Is that what you want? To throw your life away for some guy who died a thousand years ago?" He knew he was being harsh, but he couldn't just stand back and watch as Jen threw her life away.

"Maybe I want to!" She didn't mean it, but that's what she felt, as much as she tried to hide it, something was missing. And as much as she tried she couldn't forget about the man she had fallen in love with and left behind, to defend the city and end up dying because of it.

Alex just shook his head. "Jen, I don't know what you want me to say, or what I'm supposed to do." He was at a loss. He had thought it was for the better, he had let Jen keep her memories, but now it only seemed to be causing more problems than before.

"Don't say anything. Just let me live my life the way I want to. I don't need your help anymore." She walked past him, brushing against his shoulder. "I can get by just fine on my own."

Alex sighed heavily, and watched her go. It seemed impossible that just a little over a year ago they had been so in love, engaged, a happy future ahead of them and now….. Everything was changing right before his eyes, and there wasn't a thing in the world he could do to strop it. What have I done? Angry with himself, he jabbed at the punching bag with fierce force, causing it to swing back and forth several times, until it slowed to a stop. "Dammit!"

Three months later…

Alex sat on the bench in front of his locker, changing into his uniform after a long workout training with new cadets. It had become a regular routine for him, day in and day out. Jen and he had hardly spoken to each other, just a few words and nods every so often when they passed each other in the hall. It seemed the more time that passed, the more distant they became.

"Hey, did you hear about the breakout last night?" said Officer Michaels as he and Officer Hunns walked into the locker room.

"Yeah. Guess it was pretty bad. I heard Benton got hit real good, didn't stand a chance. And Markens is still listed in critical condition." Hunns grabbed a towel from the bench and wiped the sweat off of his face. "They have teams all over the place searching for those three, but it looks like they're long gone."

"Yeah, I heard from some of the guys that one of the time devices from the lab went missing."

"Great, just what we need, level ten mutants traveling through time." He took off his sweaty shirt. "Well, that may explain why I saw Scotts head into the Captain's office just before we came in here. Scott's must be…."

"You don't mean Lt. Jennifer Scotts…" Alex had been half listening in on their conversation while getting ready; most of it was old news. He had been one of the first to learn of the breakout, but when they starting talking about Scotts he could only wonder.

"Um yeah," answered Hunns, looking right at Alex, and then something just clicked inside his head. "Hey, yeah you were engaged to Lt. Scotts, almost a year ago." It had been no secret, everyone had known the two were engaged, and had been seeing each other for quite some time, but the thing that didn't seem to make any sense to anyone was why it had gotten broken off. There was a slight age difference, but not anything big enough for anyone to have any problems with. "What ever happened between you two?"

"I got to go." Alex grabbed his harness and left the locker room as quickly as his feet could carry him.

"I heard when he was in that coma, she left him and went flaunting off with some other guy. She didn't even visit him in the hospital."

"I can hardly see Lt. Scotts flaunting anything." Hunns stood up and started towards the showers. "But now that you mention it - Lt. Scotts, along with Walker and her crew, were MIA the whole time Drake was in the coma, and even after he had waked up."

"You're right. Huh, I wonder where they all were?"

"I know you are highly qualified, but I'm not sure if you understand the risks," stated Captain Logan. "This mission is very dangerous, Jen. These three mut-orgs are unlike anything you have faced before."

"I'm well aware of the risks, captain," announced Jen. "But this is something I want to do. Have to do." A big part of her felt guilty that she and the others had left Ransik behind. She wanted to make up for it, although she could never let Captain Logan in on why she had to do this. As far as he knew, she remembered nothing about her time in the year 2001 or the man she had befriended.

Logan smiled. "You're a hard officer to say no to, Jen." He gripped her shoulder. "I'll make the arrangements, meet back with me in four hours and I'll have all the equipment you'll need."

Jen saluted him. "Yes sir." She started towards the door, but stopped for a moment and looked over her shoulder. "And thank you."

She looked around her apartment one last time and for a moment she even thought it might be for the last time. Her apartment was so quiet and empty, which was silly. It was anything but empty; there was a comfy couch, a few chairs, a coffee table, even a flat screen TV. But she would give up this comforting apartment just to be back in the clock tower, which was anything but comfy.

"Jen!" Alex had seen her walking down the hall, heading towards Logan's office. "Wait up!"

"I don't have time for this, Alex. Captain Logan is waiting for me." She kept on going. She didn't want to deal with Alex now. It wasn't that she didn't respect his opinions or that she was angry with him. The last few months had been hard on both of them, having to break off their engagement, needing to come up for a reason why they had broken up. And then her talk with him about Wes, everything seemed to just go downhill after that.

It had been tiring for both of them, but it was something that needed to be done. And now, after everything they had been through, it just hurt too much to be around him. Every time she looked into his eyes, she would see Wes. It came to the point that being around him only reminded her that Wes was gone and he wasn't coming back.

"Jen!" Alex caught up with her and grabbed her arm. "Just wait, please."

Jen sighed heavily. He meant well, but he could never truly understand just what she had been going through. No one would ever understand. "Alex, I know what you're going to say and there is nothing you can say to talk me out of this." She looked him straight in the eyes. "I'm going to track down those fugitives and bring them in, whether you like it or not."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, Jennifer. These aren't just any ordinary fugitives, they have killed hundreds of people and they won't hesitate for a second to take you out."

"And so has Ransik, but you didn't seem to have a problem sending me after him!" She yanked her arm out of Alex's grip and stormed off.

Alex sighed heavily, he had known that one day that would come back to haunt him. After he had waked up out of his coma, he hated himself for weeks for sending her after Ransik. "But I wonder what Wes would say? You did say he was responsible for sending you and the others back, so obviously he didn't want anything to happen to you."

Jen looked over her shoulder. "Like you said, Wes is gone. It doesn't matter what he thinks of what I do with my life." And with those last words Jen took off down the hall around the corner towards Captain Logan's office.

"Guys, I need your help," announced Alex. After things hadn't gone well with Jen, he had rushed down to the lounge where the others were enjoying their lunch break. He had only under an hour to convince them to help him stop Jen from leaving on the mission. A mission he feared that she wouldn't return from.

"If this is about stopping Jen from going on her assignment," Katie turned and smiled faintly at Alex, "then I'm sorry, Alex, but the answer is no."

"What?" Alex couldn't believe it. Had they all gone mad? "You can't be serious. You know there's a fifty percent chance she won't make it back."

"Jen's a good officer, she'll be fine," added Katie.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." He just stared at all of them in disbelief. "Don't you guys remember…." And then he stopped himself. They don't remember. They didn't remember how Jen had gone after both Ransik and Steelix on her own, nearly getting herself killed in the process.

Lucas jumped to his feet and looked Alex hard in the eyes, as if some rage or aggression just shot right through him. He wasn't sure where it had come from or why he was feeling this way. "The only thing I remember is how you broke Jen's heart, breaking off your engagement." Lucas was face to face with Alex, staring him right in the eyes. "She was a mess for weeks, because of you."

"Lucas…" Trip started in.

"No Trip, Alex has to listen to this." Lucas looked back at Alex. "Just leave her alone, Alex, you've done enough."

Alex sighed heavily. Although some parts of the story weren't true, Lucas was right. He had done enough. He had done all he could, and there was no trying to explain himself, or what had really gone on. They didn't remember and that's the way it had to remain. If Time Force ever found out that Jen hadn't gone through memory adaptation his job and Jen's would be on the line. "You're right." Alex licked his lips and backed away. "You're absolutely right." He turned around and walked away.

Trip watched him go and for a moment he felt like going after him, as if something came over him, but he couldn't explain it and then a second later it was gone and forgotten.