Second Chances

Jennifer’s eyes flared with heat and then she kissed him, sweeping her tongue possessively into his mouth, stealing all that was left of his breath. The kiss was pure fire, pure passion. And Brian kissed her back just as fiercely, just as hungrily. He kissed her harder, deeper, inhaling her, consuming her. It was a kiss that he would never forget.

“Don’t come here, Jenn,” he murmured breathlessly, kissing her again and again, praying that his words would stand out in her memory. Jenn had remembered their conversation when he’d met Jennifer at the concert. She’d remembered that kiss. “It’s a trap---Dixon and his men are ready for you. I’m all right. I’m with Jennifer now and we’re safe for the moment. Whatever you do, be careful. Think it through.”

He kissed Jennifer again, telling himself it was only to drive home him words. It wasn’t because he wanted to lose himself in the strength of her passion, in the heat of her hunger for him.

Jennifer was breathing hard as she pulled back to gaze into his eyes. She traced his lips with her thumb. “What is it about you? What is this power you have over me?”

Brian lost himself in the midnight depths of her eyes. Eyes so like Jenn’s. “Maybe it’s destiny. Or maybe it’s knowing that in the future we’ll be lovers.”

“For you, we’re lovers right now,” she told him. “But I’ve got to wait five years. Five years.” She gave him a half smile that was so like Jenn’s. “Something tells me, as much as I’d like to, it’s a little too soon to start the foreplay.”

Brian laughed. When he’d been at the bottom of that swimming pool, he had been so sure he’d never have the chance to laugh ever again.

“Let me get these ropes off of you.” She gently pushed him back so that she could untie the rope that bound his feet.

“Jennifer, thank you.”

She glanced up at him as she finally worked the ropes loose. “For letting you communicate with Jenn through me?” She gave him another smile. “It was my pleasure. Literally.”

Brian couldn’t keep from wincing as she pulled the rope from his ankles.

Jennifer looked down and saw that the rough cord had rubbed his skin raw as he’d fought to free himself in the swimming pool. “Oh, God, I’m sorry! I wasn’t being careful----that must’ve hurt!”

Brian shivered. The closet was very cold. Jennifer noticed his shaking. “We’ve got to get you out of those wet clothes before you catch pneumonia.” She moved around him to begin untying his hands.

He could feel his wrists burn as she tugged gently at the rope and he couldn’t keep from drawing in a sharp breath.

“Brian, I’m sorry. Your wrists are pretty scraped up too. I don’t think I can get this rope off without hurting you.”

“Just do it. I’ll be ok.”

She did. It took several long, agonizing seconds, but then the rope finally was off of him.

Brian couldn’t help but notice when she glanced down at the Wells Project report still lying beside him. It was only a matter of time before she reached for it. But right now, her priorities were with him. Jennifer grabbed a shirt and pair of jeans that were hanging in the closet. “Here put these on. They look like they will probably be too big, but at least they’re dry.”

Brian didn’t move.

“I won’t look,” she added.

Maybe she should look. Maybe that would keep her from looking at the report instead. Brian closed his eyes, still feeling the fire of her kisses. He could hear his own heart beating in that fraction of a second between his decision and his ability to act.

And then Brian acted. He pulled the t-shirt over his head and unzipped his jeans, sliding them off.

Jenn had wanted him to seduce Jennifer. She seemed to think that Brian would have no trouble at all, that Jennifer would be unable to resist him. And from the sudden volcanic flare of heat in Jennifer’s eyes at the sight of him wearing only his boxers, it seemed as if she was right.

But Jennifer was not just a woman. She was a brilliant woman. And the smile she gave him was rueful. “Boy, you really don’t want me to look at that report, do you?”

Brian felt himself blush as he reached for the shirt and jeans in her hands. Dying from embarassment, he slipped into the clothing. She caught his chin with her hand, tipping his head up and forcing him to look at her. “I think I’m probably going to spend the rest of my life regretting that I didn’t seize the moment and take advantage of what you offered.” She smiled. “God, I don’t just think it------I know it.”

For one brief moment Brian was certain that she was going to kiss him again. But instead of covering his mouth with hers, she released him, stepping back and putting some distance between them.

“But you belong to someone else,” she continued quietly. “Someone that I’m not----not yet, anyway. And as much as I’d like to let you…distract me, it wouldn’t be right.”

Jennifer sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall and tiredly taking off her high heels. “Brian, you have no idea how badly I want to look at that report.”

He sat down next to her. “Really? Even knowing that in five years you’ll be willing to trade your entire life for a chance to walk away from the information that’s in there? If Jenn were here right now she’d be urging you take all of your theories and just let them go. She’d tell you that you have the power to end this once and for all. All you need to do is make that decision. NO, you won’t work on time travel anymore. Yes, you’ll go back to school, finish up your medical degree, and start working full-time on finding a cure for AIDS. Or cancer. Or something else good. Something that can’t be used as a weapon by unscrupulous people.”

“If I do that, you won’t ever see Jenn again.”

“I know.”

Jennifer turned to face him, taking his hand and lacing their fingers together. “What if there’s something Jenn’s overlooked, some way we can stop Merlin and still develop time-travel? Brian, I want to talk to her. I want to figure out a way to get us safely out of here so we can meet her somewhere and try to figure this out.”

Brian looked into the violet blue intensity of her eyes. Jenn’s eyes. “Why is this so important to you? Why do you want to develop time travel so badly? What happened three years ago that you want so desperately to go back and change?”

As he watched, he saw her take an emotional step back, away from him. She wasn’t going to tell him, and Brian got good and mad.

“You’re exactly like her,” he said, pulling his hand away. “Too damned bottled up to share even the tiniest piece of yourself.” He was pissed enough to hit her, so he moved away to avoid the impulse. He sat in the farthest possible corner of the tiny closet, glaring at her. “Well, guess what, Jenny? I’m probably going to die for you soon, for the second time around. You can at least show me the courtesy of answering my questions!”

She looked at him in shock. “The second time…?”

“I already took a bullet for you,” he told her flatly. “Five years from now. Only this time around, it’s probably going to happen in just a few hours. The least you could do is talk to me and tell me why I’m going to die.”

She was struggling to understand. “You knew you’d already been killed once, and you still stuck around to help Jenn? To help…..me?”

Brian tipped his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. “Yeah, love’s a funny thing, isn’t it, Jenny? I’m in love with Jenn.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “And I love you too. You’re her, you know. Part of you is Jenn----except for the fact that you don’t happen to love me.” He laughed, but it came out sounding more like a sob. “How could you love me? You don’t know me. But just think, if I had five years, I could probably make you love me as much as Jenn does. Of course, it would probably take another five years more for you to ever admit it!”

Jennifer was silent.

“Please,” Brian begged. “Give me something. Close your eyes and find that part of you that could maybe love me in five years. What happened three years ago, Jenn?” Jenn. He’d gone and called her Jenn.

His mistake hadn’t gotten past her. He saw her awareness in the flash of her eyes, in the slight twisting of her lips into a half smile.

She didn’t want to tell him. She shifted her position. She looked at the walls in the closet, the floor, the ceiling.

“It was one of those goddamned life-altering moments.” She finally said, glancing briefly at him.

“I was reading a book. I don’t remember what the title was. I was three chapters from the end, and I didn’t want to put it down.”

She paused, and Brian held his breath as he realized that her eyes were shining with unshed tears.

“My parents,” she said. “They came into my room. They were going to the movies. They asked if I wanted to go along. But I only had a half hour before my favorite television show came on, and I wanted to read, so I told them no. I didn’t even look up from my book to talk to them----I just asked them to shut the door on their way out, and they did. About ten minutes later I heard sirens and then Randy, my kid sister who had been staying with her friends next door, pounded on my door. It was Mom and Dad. The sirens were for them. They had just started driving down the road when they got hit by a truck. They were killed instantly.”

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