“He’ll be here soon. He has one or two things to sort out before he joins us.” she said.
“Actually, I’m glad he’s not here now. Can I give you a message to take to Jack?” I asked.
I felt she’d be more understanding of emotional stuff, not just because she was a woman, but because Hector had so obviously been uncomfortable with it.
She looked at me for a moment with her head to one side and then smiled slyly.
“I could, but you could always give it to him yourself.”
“What...?”
A surge of raw excitement suddenly rushed through me, making me feel alive again. If I could see him once more, just once more, that’d do me. I knew I’d be able to deal with anything if we could just finish things right, without any ‘if onlys’ and things left unsaid.
“He’s at the cafe, waiting for you.” she said.
I threw my arms around her. “Thank you Suri, thank you.”
I heard her laugh as I charged into the bedroom to get dressed.
I put on the same dress that I’d worn the first time; the one I’d left on the bed at the hotel as a clue. Suri held the front door open for me and I ran the few streets to the cafe, holding my skirts up.
He had his back to me and was hunched over the table. As I approached, I saw that he was older than when he’d been taken from me in Moscow, but not that much, and my heart lurched at the sight of him. At the same time I felt shy; a lot had probably happened to him that I didn’t know about, so I didn’t rush up and throw my arms around him, much as I wanted to. And anyway, I couldn’t be sure how he felt about me anymore. Time had passed for both of us after all, and it was possible that all he really felt was responsible for the situation I was now in. I took a deep breath, then walked up slowly and slid into the empty chair beside him.
“Hello Jack.” I said quietly.
He turned to look at me and I thought he was going to cry.
We sat there like a pair of lemons while the waiter took our order.
“Are you alright?” he asked finally, his voice a bit hoarse.
“Of course I am.”
“It’s good to see you Grace.”
“You too, Jack.”
With that all sorted out, we sat there quietly, just looking at each other and then looking away again.
The waiter returned with our food, but we didn’t touch any of it.
“Lost your appetite?” I asked.
He smiled and nodded, but it was a sad smile.
“I wanted to come sooner Grace, really I did. But having asked for the blasted investigation, they told me that things could have turned out bad for you if we didn’t let it run its natural course. I had no choice, but they assured me you were safe and that they’d make sure you stayed that way. After what happened with Javier though, I wasn’t sure I could believe them.”
He sounded crushed and I patted his hand as it lay on the table between us.
“I’ve been safe. They told you the truth.” I reassured him.
Despite this he still didn’t look at me, instead he stared at the ground just in front of him.
I knew what was bothering him and I wanted to make it alright. He had to go back to his own time. Maybe he really wanted the life that was on offer and maybe he also felt that he’d let me down. I wanted him to go with a lighter heart, he deserved that.
“Jack I understand, really I do. Javier explained everything; you are going to go on and do great things. Maybe that’s what all this has been about; it’s not about us, it’s about the work you still have to do.”
“So it would seem.” he said flatly.
“He tried to kill me, so you watch him.” I warned.
“Actually, he broke the Golden Rule more than once. That’s how he knew so much; he moved between realities, taking the memories from his other selves and probably from my implants too.” he told me.
That made me laugh, which made him turn to face me.
“Apparently Grace, so did I, I broke it too, but not in this reality; in another one. It’s all quite confusing. They didn’t tell me everything; I’ve had to piece it together myself. I think that ‘that me’ must have done it to save you and he probably made a mess of it, exactly as I have.”
“Humph, I think we’ll let ‘this me’ and ‘that me’ be the judge of that mister. Jack, I’m sure that both of us, this me and that me I mean, would agree that any mess that was made was made by you and me together and any clearing up that needs to be done, well, we’ll do that together too.”
All this talk of different ‘us’s’ was more than I could cope with. I was still feeling quite fragile and I needed to get back onto firmer ground.
“How did you find him out? Javier I mean. What did he do that made you think that things weren’t right?
“He reminded me of the day he sent me to the street where the car was going to hit you. He said that he’d been clever, asking me if I’d wanted an assignment where ‘nobody dies’. Of course I did. I was jaded, tired of having to witness so much death and destruction; never being able to help anyone, not a single person. But then as I was leaving on that mission he said something else, almost in passing, something like, ‘You will achieve great things Jack. Rules are for ordinary people; for those of us who can see further, they’re an unnecessary encumbrance. You can always be sure that I will be there to pick up the pieces and put you back on the right path.’
“I hadn’t given it a thought in years, but it bothered me for hours once I’d remembered it. Then I had an insight of my own. When he sent me to the time and place of the accident, he already knew what was going to happen. But he shouldn’t have; it was my future and therefore hadn’t happened yet. I went straight to The Board. They couldn’t ignore me once I’d told them that somehow Javier had used knowledge of the future in the past. He’d broken a rule that’s almost as sacrosanct as the Golden Rule.”
He picked up my hand.
“But let’s not bother with him. He’ll be dealt with by The Board; moved to a different department I shouldn’t wonder. What about us though Grace? We did have a great time, didn’t we?”
He sounded unsure and I realised that he’d given me my cue.
“Yes Jack, we did and it seems that we turned the world upside down, set it on fire and managed to save it, all by just loving each other. There are not many people who can claim even half that much.”
I looked into those lovely blue eyes and said what I knew Suri had sent me to say. I had to let him go.
“But it seems the world always needs saving. I did my bit somehow, although no one has actually explained how, so we’ll just have to believe them. But now it’s time for you to do yours and you do it with my blessing Jack; I’m going to be so proud of you.”
He nodded, but he didn’t smile, he just looked away.
“Are you happy Grace?”
I suppose I could have been less than honest, but our relationship had never been built on lies, so I wasn’t about to end it on one.
“I’ve been happier.” I told him, but didn’t look at him as I spoke. Instead I traced patterns on the back of his hand with my fingers.
“Me too. In fact, I’ve been a lot happier.”
My heart went out to him; it was all so unfair. I heard my Mum’s voice in my mind. ‘No one ever said that life has to be fair...’ It was one of the very few things she’d said that had made sense.
I didn’t say it though, there was no need; he knew it as much as I did.
It was then that I noticed that he wasn’t wearing a watch. Not on his wrist or in the pocket of his waistcoat.
“I’ve been grounded.” he explained. “Not just me; everyone. Hector brought me here and he will take me back. For a while at least, this is the last time mission; the one that is supposed to leave everything as it should be. It seems that Javier and The Board agree on one thing; you and I have to stop messing time up. Despite all our knowledge and technology, we didn’t understand as much as we thought. Unt
il such time as we can be sure that we know how to use it without even minor meddling, time travel will no longer be allowed. In ten minutes or so, when we get back to base the system will be closed down. Then it’ll be back to what we have in the libraries.”
“Oh...” I mumbled.
There didn’t really seem much else to be said. But then it did make me wonder if it meant that Jack wouldn’t be in the year 2000 when it came round again. And if he wasn’t going to be there, who would save me? I shook my head, thinking that it had already happened. But it had, hadn’t it? Somehow, as far as I could see, it would have to happen again, but I was getting into a right muddle with it all and wasting what precious little time we had left.
Both of us were lost in maybes and what ifs and we sat there for a minute or two, just holding hands and staring in front of us.
He slowly turned to face me. “Have they told you The Board’s decision yet, about what happens to you, I mean.”
“No, not yet. Suri was waiting for Hector when I left. Do you know what they might have in store for me?”
I wasn’t entirely sure that I was ready to know, but really, it didn’t matter.
“No, they didn’t tell me.” he said sadly. “They said that you had to be the first to know. Hector and Suri haven’t even told me what recommendations they made.”
“Fair enough. I don’t think it will be anything to worry about, hopefully all that knowledge won’t have affected them the way it did Javier.”
I didn’t want him to worry. Whatever it would be, he couldn’t change it and I really believed it wouldn’t be so bad.
“What about you?” I asked. “What will they do to you?”
He shrugged. “I have no idea. All they said is, ‘It will follow a natural course of events.’ They didn’t explain and I didn’t ask. I don’t really care to be honest.”
I bit my lip and tried to think of something reassuring to say.
It was then that he said the words I’d convinced myself I’d never hear again.
“Grace, I love you. I want to be selfish; I want to be part of your life. My world is a better place when you’re in it and I can’t make anyone else’s world better if you’re not there. But if there’s someone else, I’ll try to understand.”
I wondered, after everything we’d done together and everything we’d been through, how he could still think that there would be men queuing up at my door. I didn’t want them and anyway, they weren’t there.
Again, I wasn’t prepared to lie. “There’s no one else Jack. How could there be? Half of me has been missing since you’ve been gone.”
He ran his hands through his hair. “Me too, what a mess. I’m so sorry Grace...”
I cut him off. “Jack, wait.”
He’d said ten minutes and that had been at least a couple of minutes ago. Getting caught up in how it’d all been his fault was just wasting what little time we had left. I wanted him to use his brain. After all, he had rather a good one.
“Yes...?” he said, coming back to me.
“I’ve been thinking...” I said slowly.
He turned to me again and picked up my hands once more.
“Yes, and what have you been thinking...?” he said, with a smile on his lips.
“Well... only that I did save the world and that I couldn’t have done it without you. So it means that in effect, we saved the world together. Maybe you’ve already done your bit towards making the world a better place. What I mean is, we didn’t set out to do anything grand or impressive and well, it doesn’t seem too much to ask that we get to stay together. If that’s what you want of course.” I said, watching him intently as I finished speaking.
I knew Jack and I knew the truth when I saw it. I didn’t want him with me through any feeling of pity or responsibility or anything like that. I only wanted him with me because he loved me more than he wanted anything else that was on offer. Nothing less would do. Not for me and not for him.
He didn’t have to think about it.
“Grace... my lovely, lovely Grace. Why in the world wouldn’t I want that? It appears that I have searched for you across quite a few timelines and realities. Why would I do that if I didn’t love you?”
It wasn’t just what he said that told me what I needed to know; it was his eyes, his voice and most importantly, I knew the words had come from deep inside.
“Hah! Romeo and Juliet might be the original star crossed lovers, but you and me Jack, we go way beyond that!”
He laughed.
I leaned further across the table. If they were watching us, which I suppose they must have been, I didn’t want them to be able to lip read.
“It’s just that... they didn’t take my watch away from me. Even if they had, I’ve got another one pinned to me knickers and I’ve got all the money from the apartment in me bag. You know, just in case...”
His eyes glowed and a huge grin started to spread across his face.
“You are amazing Grace, but life without time travel won’t have any adventures in it. You’ll be stuck with me in a normal humdrum life. Would that ever be enough for you?”
I raised my eyebrows at him. Stupid man, I could see he still wasn’t convinced.
“Jack, I’ve seen and done things that most people would describe as magical, but do you want to know what the real magic has been?”
He tilted his head to one side and studied me carefully before nodding. I was sure he already knew, but I wanted to make sure.
“The real magic has always been what we create together, regardless of when and where we are. And anyway, you’ll be stuck with me; have you considered that?” I asked.
“Life with you will always be an adventure.” he said, smiling broadly.
“Good. Now get cracking on working out if we can have this humdrum life or not.” I told him, hoping that we weren’t about to run out of time.
“Right you are. Now let me think. The system will be shut down in around four minutes and from the base...”
His eyebrows were going fifteen to the dozen.
“They may not come and search for us, because the search itself could do more damage than leaving us whenever we are. That’s one of the main findings of the investigation; apparently we’ve not been properly assessing the ‘meddle risk factor’. That and the fact that you and I have to stop searching for each other across time, oh and...”
I interrupted him. “We could run Jack, we could run right now.” I whispered.
After all, if we were successful, we’d have time later to talk about The Board and all that. It just wasn’t important at that precise moment, not to me anyway.
“Just you and me Jack, for as long as we’ve got. Even if they do find us again, it might take a while and we’d get more time together...”
“You saved the world.” he said, looking at me.
“Yes... and one day you are going to have to tell me just how I did that.” I said, squeezing his hand even tighter. “And we can learn from our mistakes, we can learn not to break the rules anymore. So as I understand it, you’ll still be making amends, it’s just that I’ll be there making them with you.”
“But where shall we go?” he asked.
“Well, I have a rather nice place in Lyme Regis that we could retire to and there’s a serious amount of history about to happen that somebody should be recording for the future.” I whispered, surreptitiously undoing the pin on the watch. As it fell from my breast, I passed it to him.
“June 15th 1902 suit you?” he asked, setting the coordinates as I tried to shield what he was doing from anyone that might have been watching us.
“Perfect!” I exclaimed, winding my other hand around his arm. “That’s only two days after I left; the place should still be clean!”
He smiled happily at me. “Home Grace, home at last.”
“’Ere, we haven’t paid for the coffee!” I exclaimed, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, maybe we’ll come back for a holiday; we can
pay then.” he said, winking at me.
The shimmer enveloped us and I turned my head, to see Hector and Suri sitting at a table just inside the cafe. Suri looked up and while I can’t be sure, I think she was smiling. But she definitely waved at me. Of course they had the benefit of history, so maybe they knew something I didn’t. And of course Jack wouldn’t have to come and look for me anymore; he’d know exactly where I’d be, right at his side...
Table of Contents
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter ten
Chapter eleven
Chapter twelve
Chapter thirteen
Chapter fourteen
Chapter fifteen
Chapter sixteen
Chapter seventeen
Chapter eighteen
Chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter twenty-one
Chapter twenty-two
Chapter twenty-three
Chapter twenty-four
Chapter twenty-five
Chapter twenty-six
What about us? Page 30