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Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 3,645
Summary: Two weeks after Claire Bennet's televised leap from the Ferris wheel, the 12th handles it's first case delving into the strange world of specials. Evidence points the investigation toward a former Company Agent, a man Noah Bennet would swear up and down doesn't exist.
Details: Minimal details due to inflation. Full warnings and details in main post.
PREV: Chapter Eighteen // MAIN // NEXT: Chapter Twenty
Chapter Nineteen: Chaperone
"I REMEMBER WHEN ALL THIS WILL BE AGAIN."
—Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
"—not a surprise party or anything lame like that. It's just a few friends invited over to celebrate the occasion...without his permission. It's not like my father has very many friends to invite, anyway. Please, Javier?"
Shit. It was happening again.
Javier's heart started racing almost immediately, but he tried to reign it in and keep calm. He knew what was happening this time. He could do this, he just had to get his bearings. Right now it was day, and he was seated at a booth in some kind of cafe or diner. Across the table sat an oddly dressed young woman who he had apparently been having a conversation with. That was now, whenever now was, and before—
His efforts at calm evaporated completely. Only, moments ago it had been closing in on eleven thirty at night, and Javier had been keeping an eye on Konrad through the monitors at the station. Now he was somewhere else—in some other time—and that wasn't where Kevin needed him to be.
He needed to get back.
He must have said it out loud, or else the woman must have picked up on his rising panic. Her expression was concerned, though she didn't seem surprised by his confusion. When he moved to stand, she reached out and took hold of his wrist.
"Javier—"
"I can't be here," he said, trying to pull away, "I have to get back. Kevin—"
"Kevin is fine," the woman said softly, firmly, tightening her grip just a little. "He's off visiting Rick and Kate and he's fine. Everyone's fine. Take it easy."
Her tone wasn't quite soothing, and her grip not all that strong, but both were insistent and that made him take a second look at her. Her hair was dyed a rich dark brown and cut in a short, spiked style that, while more or less a fauxhawk, still managed to be quite feminine. Her eyes were strikingly painted with a daring swipe of dark eyeliner and a shine of gold-orange eyeshadow. Her clothes were of an unfamiliar style, her top combining an old-fashioned high, buttoned neckline with shamelessly bare arms, and a pair of long, fingerless gloves with far too many buckles for most of them to have been purely functional. More than anything, it looked like a less ridiculous version of what he had seen during that stupid steampunk case a while back.
A strange aesthetic, unfamiliar though not jarringly so, but odd enough that it had taken him quite a bit of looking for him to recognize her as Claire Bennet.
Javier finally let himself calm down. A little.
"Where am I?" Javier asked cautiously. "And what...year?"
He hazarded the question, hoping that if Claire knew him she might be familiar with his apparently recurring temporal eccentricities. It seemed to pay off. Though she seemed a little confused at the latter question, it certainly wasn't on the scale he would expect if she hadn't understood why he had asked it.
"We're in New York," Claire said slowly, relaxing now that he was relaxed and letting go of his hand. "You and Kevin came back for the weekend to visit family. As for when—"
She broke off, seeming a little surprised.
"Usually," she said, "you just check your watch."
He thought she was joking at first, but decided to humor her with a glance at his wrist. It was the same watch he had been wearing during his first jump, he realized, though then he had never bothered to take a closer look at it. It was a heavy thing, silver or platinum, with accents of a very dark grey that was almost black. Overall it wasn't that unusual, save that the face was somewhat more complicated than most watches he had seen. It showed the month and day, which wasn't uncommon to find on a fancy watch, but oddly it did also displayed the year.
The year 2027.
Seventeen years... Jesus Christ.
His mind stalled on that for a bit—it was a lot to digest. And it didn't seem poised to do him any favors any time soon, because in looking at the watch he was soon made very aware of the plain gold band on his ring finger. He looked away from it, trying not to think about how comfortable it felt there. Javier though she caught him staring anyway.
"You've had that watch as long as I've known you," Claire said. "You must have come from a long way back if you've never seen it before."
She didn't specify whether she was talking about the watch or the ring, for which Javier was absurdly thankful.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked him next, and Javier couldn't help but laugh.
"Everyone knows who you are," he said.
Claire made an unpleasant noise, rolling her eyes.
"Ugh, please don't remind me..." Claire muttered, sounding both irritated and resigned.
"So, what do you know?" Javier asked, moments later. "What can you tell me? About what's happening—about what's going to happen?"
"Not much," Claire said with sympathy, shaking her head. "You have personally warned me to watch what I say when you're coming from a long way back. It's too risky."
Javier was about to argue, but she interrupted him.
"Have you met my father yet?"
"Unfortunately yes," Javier said, sitting back in the booth.
He sounded sullen, but he really didn't care. Apparently he was doomed to have a problem with that whole darned family. She didn't bat an eye at his the animosity in his voice. Though that struck him as somewhat odd given that, just a few minutes ago, it had almost sounded like she was inviting him to the man's birthday party.
"And have you met Konrad?" Claire asked him carefully.
Javier stilled. A few seconds passed before he could find his voice.
"Let's just say we haven't conversed," Javier managed finally.
His cowardice on that front still stung him, and he wasn't quite able to meet her eye. Claire nodded quietly, accepting that answer.
"Then there's not really a whole lot I can say," she told him regretfully.
"Then can you tell me how to get back?" Javier demanded.
Because if he wasn't going to get anything useful out of this, then he really needed to—
"You can't," Claire said. "I'm sorry, but you have to wait it out."
"Not acceptable," Javier said—and he didn't understand how this time travel thing worked, but his future self couldn't really think he could push without expecting him to push back. "I need to be there. I need to be there for—"
"For Kevin. I know," Claire interrupted, sounding a little amused but also painfully sympathetic. "And you will be. You are. Don't think for a moment that the you that is supposed to be here doesn't still have Kevin's best interests in mind."
"Well lets just say I don't exactly trust his opinion of what Kevin's best interests might be."
Because how could Javier trust the person that had let all this happen? How could he trust the man who had let Kevin find out about himself in perhaps the worst possible way imaginable? Javier couldn't even begin to reconcile putting his partner through that kind of pain as something that he could have ever done.
To Javier's frustration Claire laughed softly, and he struggled to remind himself that he wasn't really talking to a teenager, but a woman in her thirties.
"And why is that funny?" Javier asked sharply.
"Sorry," Claire said, reigning herself in and throwing him an apologetic smile. "It's just something my dad used to say. He used to talk about how parallel yours and Kevin's situations were when it all started. How often you each wound up second guessing and fighting yourselves. Only, where Kevin was afraid of his past, you were afraid of your future."
And there was a lot Javier could have chosen to say about Bennet's observation, but a waitress had come to deliver the bill.
"I can see why he's so popular," Javier said instead, not bothering to hide the irritation in his voice.
Claire simply made an amused noise as she looked over the bill, punching a few buttons on some kind of phone or hand-held computer—it was hard enough telling them apart in his time—before slipping it into her purse and standing.
"Come on."
When Javier raised an eyebrow at that, Claire only looked him over patiently with a hand on her hip.
"I don't know how long your fugue will last," she said. "It could be hours, and I don't plan to just sit around and wait for that to happen. It's useless to continue making plans until it ends, though, and I can't just leave you running around."
"So you plan to babysit me?" Javier asked incredulously.
"Think of me as a chaperone," she offered instead.
When he still failed to stand, she sighed.
"Look," Claire said, "if whatever you're caught up in the middle of is so urgent then take this time to relax a bit. We'll walk off lunch, and find something to talk about that won't break the universe. You'll thank yourself later...maybe even literally."
And the truly frustrating thing was, whether he wanted to or not, Javier really didn't have a better idea. Regardless of what she had said, if he stubbornly refuse to go he thought she probably would wait on him. If he took off on his own, she might have tried to follow. Though it wasn't as if he had any place to go, or any reason to stay, so following her was really the best option he had at that moment.
Javier relented with a sigh and moved to stand. It was only then that he registered the odd numbness in his left knee. Unsteady, he almost didn't catch the back of the booth in time to stop himself from falling over. The man at the booth behind him was already standing, and took a step closer as if concerned.
"Are you alright, sir?" the man asked.
When the man glanced over at Claire, uncertain, she waved him off with a nod.
"He's fine," she said quickly. "He just stood up to fast."
The man backed off a little, though he didn't seem quite convinced. Javier was still too confused and alarmed to involve himself in the exchange. He sat back down in the booth, slowly. His leg didn't feel asleep, it felt like... He didn't know what it felt like. He placed a hand on his knee, and his fingers found something hard and unyielding beneath the fabric of his slacks. He didn't think it was simply a brace.
"Shit..." he swore under his breath.
There was a simple dark wooden cane leaning up against the booth where he sat. Steadying himself with a shaking breath Javier picked it up and stood again, slowly. His first few steps were awkward, but after a while he let his legs fall where they wanted to. Once he did, he found he could maneuver himself easily enough. Apparently, his body remembered things about how it was supposed to move that his mind hadn't needed to learn yet. He tried not to think of the other evidence he had seen of that during his first jaunt.
Claire's expression was oddly guilty as she turned toward the door. Javier followed.
As they left, Javier took note of a few things. For one he was armed, which seemed strange to him if he really was in New York for a visit and this really had been a casual lunch. Though he supposed that, after nearly two decades, his habits concerning when he went armed could easily have changed. He also noticed that their exit was of interest to a few curious cameras. A brief glance over his shoulder also showed him that the man from the cafe was following them at a discreet distance—and that he too was armed under the very professional looking suit that he wore.
"Is he your detail or mine?" Javier asked casually as he caught up with Claire—uneasily thankful when he managed to match her brisk pace without difficulty.
"Mine," Claire acknowledged with a rueful smile. "Yours blend in better."
Javier didn't miss the plural that was implied. Though he was uncomfortable not knowing which of the strangers around them were apparently guarding his safety, he decided to take her word for it and didn't look for them. If there really was the need for that kind of security, then advertising his current disadvantage would be the most foolish thing he could possibly do.
As they passed down the street, Javier kept his eyes aimed ahead of him. The city itself didn't seem to have changed much if he didn't look close, and the crowds at street level had hardly changed at all. As dense as ever, the crush of bodies around them made it easy to keep his eyes away from the windows of the buildings he passed. There would be a young woman reflected in the glass, and a man in his fifties walking beside her...
A man Javier wasn't certain he wanted to meet.
They made it a few blocks before Javier could finally bring himself to ask the question that had been on his mind since before they left the cafe.
"It's artificial, isn't it?" he asked, proud of the steadiness he managed in his voice. "A prosthetic."
"The knee, but not your lower leg," Claire clarified, answering him briskly, and without pause in her stride.
"How did it happen?" Javier demanded. "How does it happen?"
"I can't tell you that, Javier," Claire said unhappily.
"Bullshit," Javier said, because he was getting so sick of that answer.
He was a little surprised when Claire stopped, turning toward him angrily.
"Bullshit nothing, Javier," she said, sharply. "Think about it. You know about it now, which means you knew—when? Fifteen? Twenty years ago? Whenever you've come from you're also there right now, and you know. So don't you think you would have tried to help yourself save your damned knee? The fact that you didn't means either you couldn't do it, or else it wasn't worth the price."
Javier didn't know what to say to that, so for a moment he just stared. Once her momentum wore out a bit she heaved a sigh that was almost apologetic. Once she spoke again her voice was a lot softer, the look in her eye pleading.
"Your life hasn't been perfect, Javier," Claire said, "but more than anyone I know it's been the life that you have chosen it to be. If you can't trust yourself, try to trust that, at least."
And Javier absolutely didn't know what to say to that.
Unable to articulate anything out of the chaos of his thoughts, Javier looked away. Sweeping his eyes over a city still surprisingly familiar after so much time had passed, he wondered how he could possible have ever left. But, although it was far from the only change to catch his notice, one particular feature stood out against that familiarity in a way that was vaguely grating. At first he couldn't quite place why that one skyscraper should have caught his eye more than any other. Silvery, angular and reflective, it rose high over the others around it, but it wasn't simply the height, he was sure—
No, after a few moments he realized what was wrong. Javier had never seen that building before, not like he was now from the street—but at the same time, it seemed vaguely familiar, and he was stunned when he realized why.
That building wasn't finished yet in 2010—perhaps less than half—but he had seen enough pictures of what it was going to look like that once it finally clicked he recognized it very easily. It was part of the new World Trade Center—the tallest part of the complex being constructed at the site of the attacks. And it was alarming how quietly the thought snuck in, as if it were normal...as if it were sane—
That was the place where his partner had truly been born.
"Javier?"
And it was truly appalling, realizing it that way—and worse once it dawned on him that it didn't stop there.
"Javier?" Claire shook him in an attempt to bring him back to himself. It only worked halfway, for while he manged to meet her eyes he was still lost in his horror at the thoughts whirling in his head.
"He wouldn't exist," Javier whispered, his voice a small, choked thing even he could barely hear.
"I don't understand, Javier, who?" Claire looked worried now.
She was holding on to his arms as if she were afraid he might wander off, like before grounding him with her presence—though right now it was the last thing he wanted. He wanted to go back, he wanted the world to make sense again. He didn't want this—this sudden, soul-deep awareness of everything that had needed to happen in order for Kevin and him to even meet.
It was too much.
Without his role in the Holocaust, Konrad might never have met Adam Monroe. He would have aged, and possibly died years ago. Without the bombing of Dresden, Konrad might have stayed in Germany after the war had ended—never gotten involved with the Company—and they still would never have met. And without the events of 9/11 their meeting might still have happened, and they might even have wound up partners... But while the man he would have known might have called himself Kevin Ryan, he wouldn't have been him. Not really.
And Javier didn't realize he had been saying those things out loud—though probably not making much sense as he said them—until he saw Claire's face and the sympathetic tears in her eyes... Which was kind of comforting, in an odd sort of way, because two people crying in the middle of the sidewalk probably looked a lot less crazy than only one.
"How am I even supposed to feel about that, Claire?" Javier asked, though he knew she wouldn't have an answer. Twenty years in the future or a hundred, he couldn't imagine himself ever having an answer. "Should I be grateful? Should I not be? He's my best friend. He's my partner. He's—"
Javier stood alone in a hallway at the precinct. He was still breathing heavily from his breakdown on the street, but in the present his throat hadn't yet worked up to the choking lump that had lived there only seconds before. Looking at his left hand, he saw that his ring finger was bare, and he was wearing the same cheap sports watch he had put on that morning. He scrubbed a hand over his face and closed his eyes, trying to get a grip on himself while he still had the chance. A few slow, deep breaths managed to dull his frantic thoughts, calming them to a quieter dread he could shove away from the forefront of his mind. He couldn't afford to worry about any of that. Not right now...
He was back. Finally. He was back where he belonged—where he could handle things—and he desperately needed to see his partner.
As he made his way back to holding, Javier noticed that a few minor details had changed. He didn't know what his future self had been up to while he was away, but Javier though he might have left the station, because he was wearing a hoodie underneath his jacket. That uneasy thought prompted him to check his pockets. He had his keys and his wallet with him, which seemed to support that theory. Though if the other had left, it obviously couldn't have been for long.
And, in the pocket of his jacket, Javier found a folded post it note, on which his future self had apparently written a single word:
"Chaperone".
It seemed like a very odd thing to have done, and Javier immediately wondered if there was some reason behind it—if it was some code or clue that would be important later. Unfortunately, he didn't get a chance to ponder it for long.
"Javier?"
Javier turned suddenly at the sound of Kate's voice, and decided he would have to make an effort not to seem as off balance as he felt. He wasn't sure if she had noticed, but either way she seemed rather relieved to see him.
"I've been looking everywhere for you," Kate said, sounding confused and a little concerned. "Konrad's back in the interrogation room, and we're just waiting for Peter to show up and fix all this."
"Yeah, I— Sorry," Javier's managed, and he could barely think—because finally, finally this nightmare would be over. "Sorry, I— I just needed some air."
Kate seemed to understand that answer—or at least seemed willing to accept it—because she gave a sympathetic nod and let it go, turning toward interrogation. Javier followed. Despite his earlier aversion to being anywhere near Reichardt, there was no way he wasn't going to be there this time. And if Bennet even tried to keep him out again, Javier would make him regret it.
When they got him back—when Kevin opened his eyes again—Javier wanted to be there to see it.
Close on Kate's heels, Javier was near enough to feel her tense as the door swung open. Looking past her into the room Javier froze. He was distantly aware of Kate swearing, of her shouting down the hall for officers as she began to organize the search. It all sort of fell into the background for him as he stared at the empty interrogation room, and the cuffs that lay abandoned in center of the table, and the sick reality of it finally hit home, leaving Javier utterly numb.
Konrad was gone—and with him their only hope of ever getting Kevin back.
PREV: Chapter Eighteen // MAIN // NEXT: Chapter Twenty
Author's Note: Time travel? What time tr— Oh, right. That old thing. It's been a while. Does anyone even remember this part of the plot anymore?
Javier definitely needed some shit told to him. I'm not sure why Claire wound up the one to say it, but I absolutely loved writing this chapter. Also, I feel it's worth noting that in this chapter she's just a few years older than Javier is.
I've actually been looking forward to this chapter for a very long time. And all the following ones. Brace yourselves.
And no, apparently I can't stop being mean to Javier or give him a break ever. This is a thing.
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Date: Friday, 31 August 2012 10:52 pm (UTC)From:I have to ask about this:
"The knee, but not your lower leg," Claire clarified without missing a beat. because I'm dense and weird and just don't get it sometimes. One of my teachers in high school tried to joke to us that his lower leg was wooden, but his foot was alive and real. It seemed impossible and much more likely that he was trying to pull our legs. I decided this apparent lie was another of those joke things I didn't see the point of. My mother has had two knee replacement surgeries, so the idea of a prosthetic knee and the rest of the body being alive (below the prosthetic) doesn't strike me as automatically impossible. Yet you use 'without missing a beat' which is usually a cue that it's a joke. So I would suppose his whole leg is fake. But then later Claire mentions his injury as only affecting the knee.
I'm confused.
But aside from that, I agree that it was time for more time jaunting or whatever the heck Javier gets up to! The story also benefited from that paragraph of recap you snuck in there! Thanks!
I am left figuring that future!Javier smuggled Konrad out of the station and I imagine he arranged for a chaperone for him ... or maybe just called Claire and connected Konrad up to her ... or something like that. I eagerly await the future chapters to find out!
I love the clues. They make me think!
no subject
Date: Saturday, 1 September 2012 03:17 am (UTC)From:Incidentally, I had a faint chuckle re-reading the words "Claire clarified".
Also...is it bad that I don't really know which paragraph you're talking about?
And I've really been looking forward to the upcoming chapters, so hopefully you won't have to wait for long.
no subject
Date: Saturday, 1 September 2012 03:27 am (UTC)From:Yeah, might want to tweak the wording for 'not missing a beat'. I caught and cogitated on the circumstances under which he might need or have a prosthetic and she had not or could not or was not allowed to fix it. I decided I didn't have enough information to make much of it though and filed it away for the moment.
'Claire clarified' - funny!