A New Beginning Archivers go for it HB owns them, I made no money off this. Rated: HR, B&J, J&J Alt PG-13 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ten years ago "Mrs. Quest, there's a Dr. Zin waiting in your office." "Thank you Ms. Mason. I'll be right with him." Rachel walked back to her office opened the door and greeted the oriental man. "Dr. Zin it is a pleasure to see you again. How's your wife and family?" She asked as they shook hands. "They are fine Mrs. Quest, and yours?" "They are well thank you. Have a seat Dr. Zin. Quest Technologies has reviewed your request for use of our products. We will regretfully have to decline your application. I'm sorry." "May I ask why Mrs. Quest?" "Dr. Zin, the organization for which you are representing, The Mead Foundation, is under suspicion of terrorist activity by the American government and it wouldn't be in the best interest of this company as well as myself to continue working with you. You can understand my position Dr. Zin." "Well I see then that we are at an impasse. Good evening Mrs. Quest." With that he collected himself and left her office. Rachel let out a long breath and sat back in her chair. That man made her nervous, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Rachel went back to work and tried to forget about the stressful encounter. By the time she had finished, most everyone had left so she grabbed her purse and briefcase and went down to the parking garage. The parking garage was quiet and dark with an occasional flicker of lights. She hated staying late at the office. She had just put the her key in the door of the car when she heard a strange noise. She looked over and saw Dr. Zin. At least that was who she thought she saw. This Dr. Zin was much older. "Dr. Zin you frightened me, can I help you?" She said as she shoved the brief case under the seat of her car. Just then a car drove up. "As a matter of fact, Mrs. Quest, you can help me." He replied coolly. A large man stepped out of the car. "I don't understand," Rachel replied, her blue eyes narrowing. "You see you wouldn't. In a few days my wife will be dead, because your husband refused to help us, and you refused to give us the information I needed. You see the government that I work for will become angry and decide to punish me by murdering my wife. Later I get angry and have you killed so that Dr. Quest can know my misery. Still confused my dear? I'll explain." At that moment another Rachel Quest stepped out of the car. Rachel's eyes grew wide, she didn't know if she should scream or run. She picked run. She didn't get very far before the large man caught up to her and brought her back to Zin. "Now my dear you're not following the rules." Rachel screamed, and the large man struck her. Rachel fell to the ground. Her jaw felt as if it had been crushed, but she didn't cry. The large man picked her up and held her in place. Rachel felt dazed. Dr. Zin took out a bottle and a syringe and began to fill it. "Now if you'll let me finish. Your husband was in so much grief he made a time machine of sorts, but the man never used it. Isn't that amazing." Zin grabbed her arm. Rachel tried to pull away but it was no use. He injected it into her arm. Rachel could only muster a faint "no", her jaw was really throbbing now. She felt a burning sensation move through her arm and spread to her body. Rachel could no longer stand and it became more and more difficult to stay conscious. Zin gave the other Rachel her purse and helped her into her car. It was like looking into a mirror. Rachel felt very confused as she fell asleep. When she woke up, and things came into focus, Rachel found herself laying on an old mattress in a room that looked like it would fall apart. Rachel managed to turn her head over so she could see the light source across the room. She saw Zin there talking to two young women, that looked alike too. If she hadn't seen her twin today she would have thought she was seeing double. Then Zin left, and the two women continued to talk to one another. Rachel noticed a chair close to the bed and could see a lock on the door. Rachel tried to think of a plan to escape but she felt very dizzy and couldn't concentrate. After a few moments the twins began to walk toward Rachel. Rachel quickly closed her eyes. When she thought the women were close enough she opened her eyes. This sudden movement caught them off guard. Rachel kicked the nearest one to her, and hit the other one with the chair. She ran to the door shut it and locked it. Rachel ran out of the building. She recognized her surroundings, she was in downtown Rockport. She looked across the street and saw a McDonald's. It was early evening so it should be busy. She ran in and sat down and looked out the window to see if the women had gotten free. They apparently hadn't. Rachel brushed down her suit and fixed her hair. Now that she was a wake her jaw was really hurting. She walked across the restaurant to the other door and left. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Present "6 p.m. Jonny should be in New York by now," thought Jessie. Dr.Quest and Mr. Strauss had tried to act normal, but Jessie could see there was an awkwardness between them. She knew that Jonny saw it too, but he really wanted to go to New York. Jessie didn't get a chance to go to show Jonny what she found in the briefcase, and she was dying to show someone so she went up stairs to e-mail Hadji. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As Rachel was walking through town, She noticed that things seemed different. "Dr. Zin had mentioned a time machine, but that was impossible," thought Rachel. She spotted a newspaper stand and walked towards it. 1998, the year said 1998. Rachel stared at it unbelieving. "Can I help you miss?" The man who ran the news stand asked. "What? No time just goes by fast," Rachel replied. "You're tellin me." Rachel walked away. She didn't know what to do. Now that she looked around she noticed more changes. Rachel decided that the best course of action was to find her family. So she started walking to the last place she had called home. Quest Compound. Rachel walked up to the gates of the compound. She could see the lights were on in the house and her car in the driveway. Rachel tried to open the gate but it was stuck so she took off her shoes, threw them over, and climbed over the gate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The alarms went off in the Quest household and Dr. Quest and Race went to see who the intruder was on a monitor. Dr. Quest's eyes grew wide as he saw his wife climb over the gate. Benton realized he was holding his breath, and when he let it out, "Rachel", escaped from his lips. Race had never seen the doctor move so fast. Dr. Quest almost ran over Jessie on his way out of the house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rachel had just slipped on her shoes, when she looked up to see her husband. He was breathing hard and he looked like he would cry. Benton Quest was older, but Rachel still wanted to run to him, wanted him to tell her it was all right that it was just a dream. But this Benton Quest just stood there. The silence seemed to go on for a while, then Dr. Quest spoke. "Who are you?" His words were soft. "Ben, it's me, Rachel." "Rachel^�s dead." "I am not, God Damn It!" Rachel couldn't stand the fact that she was not in control of her life and she began to talk very quickly. "One moment, I'm leaving work then I'm kidnapped by Dr. Zin, I fight my way free of a pair of twins, come home only to find it's ten years later, and have a husband who doesn't believe me." At that point she started to cry. Benton walked up to her, but he didn't touch her. "What about Dr. Zin?" Rachel wiped her tears away. "I don't know, I pretty sure it was him, he said something about a time machine that you built." Benton looked into her eyes. "Is it you?" "How can I prove that it's me?" her face was somewhere between worry and panic. Benton thought about it for a moment. "Tell me something that only you and I would know about--let me think-- our first kiss." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 22 years ago "Hey Megan I just have to grab this book then we can leave," whispered Rachel at the library. Rachel walked to the shelf and grabbed the book she was looking for, but stopped when she heard her name in the next aisle over. Rachel waved at Megan to come over. "What?" whispered Megan. "Will and that guy Benton Quest--you know the one I went out with last week." Rachel pointed to the aisle. The two girls listened. "What do you mean, Ben?" asked Will. "I mean I can't stop thinking about her." Benton Quest answered. "I can't think straight. I'm not getting any work done." "We are talking about the same Rachel here, aren't we?" "Will, you can be such an ass." "I know, I know. You should ask her out again. You Should!" "I can't believe we're eavesdropping," replied Megan. "Shhh! It's only wrong if we get caught." Megan walked over to the end of their aisle. "Megan comeback! Megan." Megan turned the corner and pretended to run into Will. "Oh, hi Will I didn't know you were here." "Hey Meg^�we were just studying." answered William Strauss. "What a coincidence so were we, I mean Rachel and I." "Rachel's here?" asked Benton. "Oh yeah, somewhere. So Will what are you doing tonight." Rachel walked over to the next aisle. "Hey Meg did you find that book I need? Oh Will, Ben, how are you guys?" "Hi Rachel what book did you need?" asked Benton. Rachel stepped closer to Benton and looked into his eyes. "This one right here." She grabbed a book to the side of her, not taking her eyes off Benton. "What book is it?" he asked his eyes still on her. Rachel looked down at the book she had grabbed with out looking, and read the cover. "Human Sexuality: And It's Cultural Customs." Rachel could believe it out of all these books in this aisle she grabbed one on human sexuality. Rachel and Benton turned around only to find their friends had abandoned them. Benton started to blush, "do you want to get some coffee or something?" "I would love to, but I really need to get back to my dorm." "It's getting late. I'll walk you home." "Okay." Rachel smiled. They left the library and headed for the dorms making small talk. At one point they started looking at the stars, and they tried to walk and look at the at the same time. Rachel tripped on the sidewalk, and Benton caught her by the arm. The two laughed for a moment then stared into each others eyes. In one solid swift movement they were in each others arms having their first kiss under the stars. When they parted Benton could only muster a "wow", and Rachel relied. "You're telling me." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Present Rachel smiled, "Our first kiss, you were walking me home from the library, I tripped, though I can't remember if I did it on purpose or not it was under the starlight, and I think you said "wow", I was in a daze." "Only one woman made me feel that way." Benton stepped even closer and kissed Rachel very slowly. Race and Jessie stood a few yards away not knowing what to do. When Benton and Rachel parted, Benton replied with a "wow", and Rachel answered back, "you're telling me." Dr. Quest turned around and introduced her. "Race, Jessie, this is my wife Rachel."