R & R guys - enjoy!

Alex

"What are you doing here Dean?"

"What does it look like?" he asked wickedly, moving closer. "Were you expecting someone else?"

I backed away until I was on the edge of the bed. He darted forward and I went tumbling off, crashing into the floorboards.

"Alex! Alex, you okay?"

His hand reached towards me and I took it, slowly getting to my feet. "This is all too much."

"Alex, baby, what's up?"

"Nothing's up," I said moving away from him. He hadn't changed a bit; tall, messy hair, thick New York accent that made me realise I'd been stupid to make me think the guy was Mason.

I wiped my mouth, feeling disgusted with myself for cheating on Mason before I realised he was back in 2010. I took a quick look at my hands to make sure there were no rings in sight and thankfully there weren't.

Dean looked at me weirdly as I tried to cleanse my tongue. "Are you sure you didn't bump your head?" He tried to reach out and touch me but I moved away.

"I'm fine, fine," I answered, my voice unnaturally high. "I just remembered I have stuff to do, I have to see my brothers."

"Your brothers?" he looked puzzled before bursting out laughing. "Good one Alex."

I failed to see the joke but I just laughed weakly to appease him. He smiled. "That's alright; I might be back for a booty call later."

He winked and ducked out the door. I collapsed on the bed, wondering why the picture of Mason's wolf form in my living room was all I had of him.

Justin

Until I found out a way to get back to our own time, I figured I may as well enjoy myself for once. I wanted to see the hospital where I worked, find out what I did, what my life was like.

I found an id in my top drawer: Laver Memorial Hospital. I clipped it to my shirt and quickly ran for a taxi, since I had no idea where to go. I told the guy the name and he just nodded and muttered grumpily under his breath. I got there fast enough, flashing my identification at the receptionist, who pointed me straight through the halls with authorized access only.

"Dr. Russo? What are you doing here?"

I turned and a bearded man with thin greying hair was glaring at me. "You're not supposed to be here now."

"I'm not?"

The man sighed. "Look, I know this is all hard for you but we're not allowed to have you on the premises while the case goes on."

"What case?"

The man regarded me like I was crazy. "The lawsuit, remember? Until it's resolved, you're not allowed to practise medicine."

Little things started to click into place: the way Emily had acted, asking me how I was and thinking I was still in a bad mood. By the sounds of it, I was being sued and was currently banned from the hospital. But it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"The lawsuit," I said slowly. "When….when can I expect it to be over? When can I come back to work?"

The man looked sad. "Dr. Russo, I think you should leave."

He guided me to the exit and I knew what his answer meant. I was never coming back at all.

Max

"We're home."

The voice awoke me from my slumber and I quickly wiped away the thin line of drool on my lower lip. I got to my feet to see Mom and Dad enter, laden with suitcases. They were home today of all days, the day when we'd all arrived from the past; now wasn't that a lovely coincidence.

"Come here baby boy," Mom cooed. Well at least one thing hadn't changed. I smiled and moved to give her a hug but before I could, she chucked her suitcase at me.

"Be a dear and take that upstairs, will you Maxy?" she kissed my cheek and wandered into the kitchen.

Dad greeted me with a bear hug and dropped his bag by my feet. "Mine too son."

They walked off and I shook my head, before lugging the bags upstairs. I came back down and Dad was already tucking into a sandwich; man he worked fast.

"How was your trip?" I asked. Remember, I told myself. Don't say anything to give away the future.

"It was fantastic. Puerto Rico was even more memorable the third time around, especially without the kids."

My parents leaned in for kiss and I looked away, grossed out. It was nice to know they were still in love and all but did they have to do that in front of me?

"What you been doing son? Running the substations?" Dad asked, taking a huge bite of his food. His fair hair was almost gone, thinned to the bone and there were wrinkles creasing his forehead.

"Yeah, I've been pretty busy with work. I saw Justin and Alex today."

The cutlery Mom was cleaning fell to the floor in a loud clatter. Her and Dad exchanged glances before turning to me. "You saw Alex?"

"Yeah why?" I asked, curious at their reaction.

"Did you talk to her?" Dad asked hesitantly.

That seemed to me like a stupid question. If I saw Alex, why wouldn't I talk to her?

"Uh yes."

Mom moved towards me and gripped my arm tightly, digging her nails into my arms frantically. "Is she alright?"

"She's fine Mom and you're hurting me."

"Sorry Maxy," she said softly, absentmindedly moving to the couch.

"I'm proud of you Max, for reaching out to her," Dad said, from the table. "I know things have been rough ever since the competition but it means a lot that you're making an effort. Justin too."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"I miss her so much. If only she'd return our calls," Mom said to herself, wringing her hands. "I miss her so much."

The whole atmosphere was suddenly so down, Mom staring into space and Dad gazing into his sandwich.

"I'm just going to go," I muttered, bounding up the stairs to my room.

I dialled Justin straight away. "Justin, call Alex. We need to meet again. Tomorrow morning. Substation. Be there."

Justin

Max's cryptic message was weird but I agreed and told him I would pass on the message to her. I was in the middle of sending her a text when Emily walked in. I looked at the clock; it was 9:00pm. Our first day as our future selves was coming to an end.

"Hey Justin, what are you doing?" she asked, immediately digging into the Chinese takeout I'd ordered. At least I still knew how to order food.

"Just messaging Alex."

Emily stopped dead and her eyes widened. "You are?"

"Yeah I just have to tell her something."

She sighed. "I really don't think that's a good idea. Remember the last time you sent her an angry voice message? Admittedly you were drunk but it just made things worse, if that's even possible." She eyed me suspiciously. "You're not drunk are you?"

I stood up, balanced on one foot and touched my nose with each hand before sitting back down. "Does that prove it? What are you talking about anyway?"

"Justin, some things are best left in the past. It's not good to bring it up every time you get angry. It's been ten years. You have to move on."

I frowned. I wanted to ask again what she was talking about but I remembered I was supposed to know these things. She couldn't suspect anything different.

By the sound of her words, it seemed Alex and I were kind of fighting. Perhaps about something that had happened ten years ago. But I'd just come from ten years ago and nothing had happened, not yet anyway.

"Okay, I won't message her," I lied, slipping my phone into my pocket.

Emily just smiled and I knew I'd passed the test. I had to pretend to be the Justin of 2020, not of 2010. And if future Justin was having a fight with future Alex, then it had to appear that way. But I was curious to what all of this was about. Emily made it seem bad, like we hardly ever talked but surely that wasn't true?

"I'm just going to go to bed honey," I said, quickly running into the bedroom.

I changed into a singlet and boxer shorts that I found in my closet before finishing the message.

Meet at the substation 2morrow 4 breakfast

We have lots to discuss

C u there

JUSTIN

I settled into bed, under the covers when I felt Emily, pressing her body into my back. She slipped her arms around my waist and snuggled in close.

"Night Justin," she whispered, kissing my bare shoulder.

It felt weird, nice but weird. She seemed a stranger to me but my body seemed to know exactly who was. I rolled onto my backside and she moved to lie on my chest.

"Your heart's pounding, I can hear it," she murmured, tracing the spot where it lay underneath my clothing.

It was pounding because I'd never been more nervous in my life. Juliet was the only serious girlfriend I'd ever had and we hadn't progressed past make outs. Now my wife was lying on me; it had all happened so fast.

She lifted her head, smiled and propped herself up to kiss me. Her lips were as soft as silk, tantalising. But then it was over and she was back to lying down, her head on my chest. I concentrated on my breathing, relaxing myself. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close, noting how good it felt to have someone next to me.

Alex

I woke up that morning, and for a moment it was like nothing had changed. I was back in my bedroom, waking up, as Mom to made pancakes for breakfast. Then the morning haze broke through and I was here in this unfamiliar bed, this unfamiliar place. I looked at the clock to see 10:00 emblazoned across the screen of my clock in bright red letters. I flung myself out of bed, flying to my closet and pulling out the first thing I saw.

I ran to the bathroom, tugging on a pair of jeans as I did, jumping up and down awkwardly as I struggled to get the skin tight pants on. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, threw some water on my face and rapidly brushed my teeth, finally making it out of the apartment.

Luckily, Dean hadn't shown up again last night. I'd waited, awake, for ages, scared he'd come again because I had no idea how to face him (but mostly because I was afraid of what might happen) but when he didn't show, I crashed.

I hopped into the first taxi I saw and gave them the address to the substation. I made it there quickly, for the lack of traffic on the road. I rushed in and saw Max and Justin sitting at a table in the corner, both smiling deprecatingly at me, like they weren't surprised I was late.

"Some things just never change," Justin commented as I slid into the booth besides Max.

"Don't make me hit you," I threatened, stealing a sip of Max's hot chocolate. "What's the emergency? I mean, not that I don't love you guys but I saw you yesterday. I thought we agreed to just go about as normal until we figure a way back."

"It's just…weird things have been said to us and we've been trying to work out what it all means, seeing as it might help us work out why none of us have any powers."

"What's going on?"

Justin nodded to Max. "You first."

"Mom and Dad got back from vacation yesterday. I told them I talked to you and they started acting strange."

"Strange? What do you mean strange?" I asked, sneaking another gulp of his drink.

"They seemed really surprised I'd talked to you. Mom got all upset all of a sudden, asking if you were okay. Apparently you hadn't returned any of her calls or something."

I hadn't returned Mom's calls? I may be forgetful but I'd always make time for her, I was sure of it. I wasn't that selfish and inconsiderate.

"Then Dad said he appreciated me and Justin making an effort to see you, even though things have been rough since the competition."

The competition. The mere mention of it meant we were getting closer to finding out what happened, why none of us seemed to possess any powers at all.

"Then get this," Justin jumped in. "I was at home, messaging you when Emily came in-"

"Emily? Who's Emily?"

"My wife, now stop interrupting," Justin said, irritated. "Anyway, she saw I was messaging you and started talking about the last time I sent you an angry voice message because she thought that was what I was doing, and how it was time to move on after ten years."

"So something happened ten years ago, but we just came from ten years ago?"

"This means," he continued, "it must have happened not long after we left."

We all looked at each other. The competition was scheduled to take place only a few months after we disappeared. Dad referenced the competition, Emily mentioned ten years ago. It wasn't hard to connect the dots.

"So something happened at the competition ten years ago, that made both of you not want to talk to me and me not want to talk to Mom or Dad."

Suddenly even Dean's words made sense, why he thought the idea of me seeing my brothers was so funny. I'd probably told him I didn't see them or talk to them anymore before and he'd thought I'd been making a joke.

I felt sick, like the hot chocolate could make a sudden reappearance at any moment. What could I have done that was so bad?

"Alex, we don't know anything yet, we can't jump to conclusions."

I stood up from the booth. "It's not hard to put it together Justin. Obviously I was the reason we all lost our powers ten years ago and that's why both of you don't talk to me."

"Alex-"

"I have to go, call me when it's time to go back."

I ran out of there as fast as I could, with everyone's eyes on me as tears started to make tracks down my face.