A/N: I'm fast forwarding this in linear time because quite frankly, I don't feel like writing a huge battle scene and negotiations and the action that the show is well known for. I want to focus on Carlos and Keira. So I'm leaping to the end! If anyone wants to take the wheel and write what they think happened in between, feel free, and send me a PM with the link!

Three Months Later

Keira

"Are you ready?"

Brad's smile was shaky when he hiked the standard issue military pack on his shoulders a little higher. "As I'm going to be." He glanced over his shoulder. Keira followed his eyes, smiling when she saw her partner and Alec surrounded by a group of men in military fatigues that matched the ones Brad was currently wearing. They were laughing and horsing around, and even Alec, with his arm wrapped around Emily, seemed to be having a good time.

The group had thoughtfully given the two of them time to say their goodbyes, but Keira knew they were anxious to go. She understood the feeling. They had families to get back to. Wives and children at home waiting for them. They'd come here willingly, knowing that it might be a one way trip, their mission to eradicate the sequence of events that had started the ball rolling toward the future they knew.

Now the mission was over, and they had been successful beyond their wildest dreams. For the past three months, with Keira and Alec's help, the group had laid down a pattern of blackmail and sabotage that had toppled Kellogg from the head of Piron and put Alec back in…and somehow, with the Freelancers' help, they'd been able to do it without eliminating their own timeline completely.

Negotiations were over, and a path to success laid down for both Piron, which would continue to focus its efforts on weaponry, and SadTech, which would emerge as a separate bud of Piron and lay down its own footprint in the world of technology. Neither would follow the path to corporate domination that had doomed the timelines both she and Brad had left as long as Alec continued to sit at their head.

His brother Julian had been named as the company VP, with complete oversight. A member of Brad's team that had no family to go back to had offered to stay behind, and was working with Garza to act as Julian's advisors. There would be no mistakes-or if there were, at least they would be new ones. Keira really didn't want to think about that too hard.

Most importantly, for Brad anyway, with the power of Piron and the Freelancers behind them, they were going home. Back to a future where, according to Freelancer scouts, they lived in peace-and where Brad's wife and daughter were healthy and whole and waiting for him.

Brad had all but stopped breathing when they told him that, and while she knew he felt badly about what had happened between them she was the first to tell him to go.

"You're sure you don't want to come with us? We need good soldiers-protectors-in our timeline too."

It wasn't the first time he'd made the offer. She'd been putting him off for a week now, asking him for more time to think-although that request had been just a formality at first. When he'd first told her he had permission to take her home with them, the answer had seemed obvious. Of course she wanted to go. Even if things had crumbled between her and Brad-and she didn't want to think too hard about what that was going to be like-it was still her time. They'd compared notes on their futures, and while the socio-political climate was vastly different in his time, many other things were very much the same. And bless him, Brad's boss had already offered her a job and a place to live while she got herself acclimated. It would be as close as she'd ever come to going home.

Glancing again at Carlos and Alec, she couldn't help but sigh. Her bags were packed. She'd put her apartment keys in an envelope on the dash of her car that had Carlos's name on it and a note for her landlord inside, letting him know she'd been called to military duty and hadn't had time to return them herself.

It should have been an easy decision. It wasn't, and it was one she had struggled with even while she made arrangements to go. Now it was, as Carlos often told her, time to put up or shut up.

Carlos

"You're sure you don't want to come with us?"

He hadn't meant to eavesdrop. Ok, maybe he did. Just a little. More like their voices had carried, and he hadn't tried too hard not to listen in. Wasn't like he didn't have the rest of his freaking life riding on how that conversation turned out.

No pressure.

The last few months had been rough on his partner. She couldn't catch a break. He wasn't quite a big enough person to regret that Brad was getting the hell out of his city, but Carlos knew the fact that he was going back to his family while Keira was never going to see hers again was tearing her up.

He ought to know. It had been his brandy she'd gotten blind drunk on the night the bastard had told her he was leaving. He'd been the chump that had wrapped an arm around her and let her drink, then let her cry, then listened to her break his heart when she tearfully confessed that she'd seen Brad as her only chance to have anything resembling a normal life in this timeline-and that now, knowing he was married and he was going home to his wife, not only was she losing what she thought might be her second chance, she felt horrible and guilty about everything that had happened between them in the months between his arrival and now.

The logical part of his brain knew at the time, the man had thought his family was dead. Didn't matter. Carlos wished to god he could plant his fist in Brad's face for crossing the line with his partner in the first place. And now, in spite of everything that had happened, the man was handing her the only thing she'd really wanted since she showed up in his time. An all-expense paid trip back to the future.

He'd known it was coming. Brad had shown up on his doorstep one night last week. Said he wanted to talk about Keira. Carlos had reminded himself that in 10 days, the man was going to be out of his life. Hopefully forever. And his partner would probably take it personally if he rearranged Brad's pretty face for him. So he swallowed the rage that had been choking him since he found out Brad and Keira were…involved…and invited him in.

Too bad he didn't go with his first instinct. Brad had come to tell him that his squadron leader had authorized Keira to come back with them, and that Keira was waffling on whether or not she wanted to go. He'd laughed and said that Keira being Keira, he had a feeling she'd wait until the 11th hour. Knowing what had happened between them in the timeline she'd left, he wanted Carlos to have the chance to say his goodbyes.

It was a kick in the gut that Carlos still hadn't gotten over. He'd brought the subject up with Keira a couple of times since then, but she'd been reluctant to talk about it and he hadn't pushed. He'd rationalized it-she was fragile, and he didn't want her to feel like he was pressuring her to make a decision one way or the other.

His mistake, he realized now, pretending to listen to the off color jokes shooting around the circle of men while his ears strained to hear her answer. The truth was, he'd been afraid of what she was going to say. If they didn't talk about it, he could pretend that there was actually a chance she'd still be here, with him, when Brad and his crew took off.

What he should have done was pin her down for answer…and maybe, if he could stop being the nice guy, the good friend, for five freaking minutes, let her know that he was willing to make it worth her while to stick around.

But he'd been too chickenshit, too afraid of having his feelings shoved back in his face and losing the relationship he and Keira already had, and now everything was riding on whether or not his partner decided to stay.