"I can go home…"
Just saying so was powerful. Softly, Kiera said it again, her eyes filling with tears. Alec and Carlos acknowledged how fragile she looked at this moment in time. Time, the invisible ruler no one could get mastery over, but some couldn't stop trying.
"Yeah," Alec remarked, the innocence in his eyes shining. "I think so, once I figure a few more things out." He'd miss her, but maybe he would see her again, sometime. Hitting algorithms hard was second nature to him. He'd been doing that since forever. He'd figure it out. Alec sensed that Carlos was struggling, trying to conceal losing Kiera. His hot-button emotions were all over the place. Alec thought it best to to leave his true friends alone to sort out their feelings. "Hey, I'm going to grab a bag of chips and something fizzy to wash them down with. Anyone want anything?" He hovered by the door of the office he'd been granted with eyebrows raised and thin lips taut.
Would they hold hands as soon as he left? Maybe; Alec smiled. They might do even more, once he gave them some privacy. Looking expectant, Alec unfurled his boyish demeanor. Emily had loved telling him what a cutie he was when she'd been here, with him. Where was she now? Doing who knew what? He hoped she was missing him as much as he missed her, wincing just thinking about her. He missed her so much, he ached from her absence.
"I'll be back."
"Take your time. Bye," Carlos called after Alec, searching silent Kiera's face with questioning eyes.
Kiera's promise she'd made to Carlos melded with her wedding vows to Greg. Her husband's unfaithfulness stabbed at her heart. If Carlos said yes to catapulting himself into the future with her, they could be together to raise Sam as a team. 'If' he wanted to..., Kiera mulled over, wanting him to want to.
Seeming to read her thoughts, Carlos nodded. He wasn't gifted, not brilliant like Alec, couldn't actually read her mind, but they had come to an understanding. As his heart began to melt, he brushed away a few tears that slid down his cheek. And he noticed tears glistening on her cheeks too. The woman he loved was unforgettable. His voice gentle, his love for her close to the surface, he asked, "Still think I should tag along?"
"Having second thoughts?" Almost a reflex now, she went for his hand, squeezing it tightly. Her fingers and palm meshed with his like hand in glove, a perfect fit.
"Not about being with you," Carlos assured. The fingertip of his broad thumb cuddled stroked her palm. "About…" The future. Would he fit in? How? He was a 21st century man. Technology was a bear now, in the 24th century, he winced. "How your husband'll react when you show up with me. You know about him, but he doesn't know you know about him being unfaithful. True?"
Kiera squeezed Carlos' hand. "True." She shrugged, looking at him with an eyebrow cocked. "
"What if…what if your son hates me?"
All of this supposing on this side of tomorrow, made her head ache. In a conspiratorial tone, she said, "We'll figure it out, Carlos. Like we always do." They'd make what they had work because she believed in him. He hated failing her. They deserved happiness, sharing it, together. If he turned her down, she'd do her best to convince him that they shouldn't part. Her tears had dried. Uncertainty overshadowed her thoughts. She breathed Carlos in deeply, pulling herself more tightly against him. His scent, virile, comforting, made her high. "We're going to do greater things together. Better than what we've done here."
His growl against her ear resonated within her, and Kiera buckled. "I look forward to that," he told her seductively.
Holding her breath, as she'd been doing, she let it out slowly, and said, "Me too."
His lips curved into a smile and he kissed the top of her head. "I'm with you. Kiera, I love you."
Turning in his arms, Kiera heaved a sigh of contentment, already at home in his arms. Admiring his rock of Gibraltar-like face, she said, "I love you too."
Before burying his mouth in hers, Carlos murmured, "Where you go, I go..."