Half Moon Bay, California, 1975. Exactly two days before Tommy King was picked up by the Nexus and thrown into Rhy'Din. Two days before his death - or four, if you counted it by Helena's timescale. Three days after she'd gone back to find he was already dead. The going back and forth was beginning to do her head in just a bit, but with any luck, there wouldn't be any more jumping about in time after this visit. Jon had convinced her to go back and meet Tommy again, to try and convince him that she wasn't crazy, that he could have a longer, better life on Rhy'Din with her. It had taken her a couple of days to get something workable from the mages at the GrangerGuild R&D department, and another day of Dru and Jon's encouragement to actually get her *ss moving. But here she was, standing on the street outside Hang Ten, hoping against hope that this was going to work.

Nothing much had changed from the time she'd last been here. The shop looked the same, at least from the outside. Even the weather was the same, pleasantly warm and sunny, a mild breeze off the ocean. You couldn't have asked for a better day really. Tommy's VW psychedelically-painted van was sitting out front of the shop - an encouraging sign that he was alive and well and most likely somewhere nearby. If the past played itself out the same way, he'd been loading up the van in another two days and heading for Laguna Beach, only to be detoured to Rhy'Din and meet the girl of his dreams. For him, none of that had happened yet, but for the heartbroken girl standing outside, it was already part of her past and her experience.

Hugging her arms around herself, Helena drew in another deep, albeit gusty breath, forcing her feet to start moving once again. The sight of the van was enough to reassure her, but she knew she wouldn't feel right until she actually saw Tommy. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Pushing open the door to the shop, she paused in the doorway, looking around. "Hello?"

The inside of the shop, however, looked much different. There were surfboards lined up on one side of the room, just waiting for someone to admire them and take them home, after paying for them, of course. The room was painted blue - as bright as a sunny summer day. Everything else was mostly the same - the same posters hung on the walls, the same counter from which business was done. The little bell above the door jingled, announcing her presence, but from the looks of things, here was no one around.

At least, not yet. The clock on the wall said it was half past nine, and the sign on the door told prospective customers that the shop didn't open til ten, but the door was unlocked, so it was logical to assume someone was already there and who that someone most likely was. No one answered her query, most likely because both the sound of the bell and her voice were drowned out by the sound of Jimmy Page's guitar coming from the back room. The guitar gave way to the drums and before long Robert Plant was heard, along with another voice, screeching the lyrics to a song that bemoaned a lost love. "In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man. Now I've reached that age, I've tried to do all those things the best I can. No matter how I try, I find my way into the same old jam. Good Times, Bad Times, you know I had my share. When my woman left home for a brown eyed man. Well, I still don't seem to care." Despite the ache in her heart and the understandable nerves of coming back here to do something about that ache, Lena found herself smiling as she listened to the voice screeching from the back room. Her glance took in how different the shop looked, how different it felt. There was no sense of the place being run down or lost, no loss at all hanging in the air. And armed as she was with a certain knowledge of how the place was laid out, she moved confidently to the back room, leaning around the door to find out just who it was happily murdering Zeppelin.

And there was Tommy, a pair of goggles on his face to protect his eyes, wearing a navy blue t-shirt and ragged blue jeans, pale yellow hair tied back away from his face, happily singing along with the song, even as he sanded the board that was sitting on a table in front of him, pausing only momentarily to play air guitar along with Jimmy Page to the guitar solo. You could almost feel the energy generated by the song, and the buoyant mood of the man who seemed lost in the moment. A cup of coffee sat on a counter nearby, along with a half-eaten egg and cheese sandwich, sunlight slanting in through a window to light the small space.

"Oh, thank gods ..." Just seeing him standing there, vibrant with life, was enough to bleed all the tension from her body, the anxious stiffness she had been holding onto for days falling away. And little Helena, who was known for almost never acting on impulse, didn't give herself a moment to think. There was a thump as her bag hit the floor, her body advancing swiftly across the room to startle Tommy King with a kiss that he probably wasn't expecting at all.

Tommy's singing and air guitar playing was derailed by that kiss, completely taken off guard and by surprise. It wasn't every day a strange - not to mention beautiful - girl walked through your door and practically threw herself at you. Both brows arched in astonishment, but he didn't seem upset by this unusual occurrence. Surprised, yes. Upset, no. And what did one do when they were kissed" They kissed back, of course, without hesitation. There were still a few people who believed in Free Love and all that. He smiled down at the girl as he pulled away from her lips, amusement lighting his face. "Well, hello. Do I know you? Or am I about to get to know you?" he asked, that all-too-familiar twinkle sparkling in his brown eyes.

She laughed, a blush lighting up her face as he smiled down at her, the charm that had coaxed into revealing so much of herself on display in the warm eyes that looked into hers. "I know you," she told him, hands resting against his arms, unwilling to break contact with him even for a moment. "And I really hope you're going to want to know me, Tommy. But you're gonna think I'm crazy for the next few minutes."

One brow arched higher than the other, curious, intrigued even. She knew his name, but that wasn't too hard to believe in a town as small as this one. The first thing that popped into his mind was she was either a surf groupie or someone was playing a prank on him. Either way, he was willing to go along for the ride, just to see how it would all play out. Jack might have put her up to it, he figured, though Jack wasn't really the pranking kind. "Okay," he agreed, scrutinizing her a moment, as if to try and determine on his own if she was for real or if this was all some elaborate joke. He untangled himself from her to reach over and shut the music off so they could hear each other better. He tossed the sandpaper onto the counter and folded his arms across his chest. "Hit me. I'm all ears."

He stood there for a few minutes, mulling this all over, angry at the cruelty of what he perceived to be a joke. She'd said she had a few things to show him, but he hadn't listened or cared. Once she'd reopened the wounds left by Robby's death, he had stopped listening. He didn't want to hear anymore, and yet, she had told him she loved him, and she'd been crying. He'd heard the tears in her voice, the raw pain, so much like his own. He found himself wavering, almost wishing what she had told him was true - not the part about his own death, but the part about loving him. Still, it was such a ridiculous story, it had to be a prank.

There was just no other answer. His mood turned dark, and he silently swore he was going to kill Jack when he saw him - figuratively, of course, because in all truth, Tommy wouldn't hurt a fly, though he'd gotten into a few brawls from time to time. He reached for the radio and flipped it back on, determined to finish the board and be done with California forever. Maybe his father was right. Maybe it really was time he just grew up. The song that just happened to come on the radio at that moment was another song of love lost, this one far more poignant than the other. Ain't no sunshine when she's gone. Only darkness every day. Tommy picked up the sandpaper and turned back around to return to his business, his mood as dark as a stormy day, when he saw the things she'd left behind, supposed proof that she was telling him the truth.

There on the half-sanded surfboard were three items he recognized as belonging to him. He furrowed his brows as he examined each item in turn - the bracelet that was an identical match to his, the key-chain from which dangled a Peace symbol, and the scrapbook that was a photographic record of his life and adventures.

The leather band matched the one he wore exactly, even down to the abrasions it had picked up over the years. The key-chain, too, was identical in every respect, chipped in the right places, worn in others. The scrapbook was definitively his - no one could have faked it, and not even Jack would be stupid enough to take it away and give it to someone just for the sake of an unpleasant prank. But there was one crucial difference waiting to be discovered. He'd never filled it completely, leaving pages blank at the back, and on one of those pages were stuck photographs he had never seen before. Pictures of a beach that was beautiful in its wildness, untouched by the corporate greed that was marring the beaches he knew, of rolling surf beneath twin moons. Pictures of him, surfing those waves, his grin bright and exhilarated. Pictures no one could have faked, and yet were right there. And beneath them, in a hand that had to belong to Helena, were five words. I love you. Don't forget.

None of it made any sense. How could anyone have gone to such elaborate lengths just to play a prank" He looked at each item in turn, the scrapbook last. He had carefully gathered the photos together over the years and pasted them inside, along with various news articles and mementos, and as he flipped through the pages, his heart ached with sadness at both the memories and the losses. Live for today. It had always been his mantra, and yet, here was a scrapbook filled with memories of the life that had passed him by, of things that had already been and would never be again. He almost closed those pages without noticing the additions she'd made to the book, but something - some inexplicable feeling - urged him on. He took the photos in, recognizing himself, but not the place where they'd been taken. It was a place he'd never been, a place from somewhere in his dreams, it seemed.

Two moons lit the night sky, shining brightly on the surf, and there he was smiling happily at the camera, though he'd never been there. He touched the words written there, not recognizing the handwriting, but somehow knowing it belonged to the girl who'd just walked out the door. Helena, she'd said her name was. The face that launched a thousand ships. And she loved him. It was impossible, and yet, what other explanation was there" If she was, by some strange quirk of fate, telling the truth, could he really afford to let her walk away from him forever" He felt his heart lurch inside him, his pulse quickening when he thought of how her lips felt against his. It was impossible, and yet....what if it was true" He carefully tugged the photograph from its place on the page and turned to follow her out the front door, hoping he wasn't too late. "Helena!" he called as he hurried after her. "Wait!"

She hadn't managed to get very far, her heart aching so badly in her chest that she could barely breathe, much less put one foot in front of the other. Tears were streaming down her pretty face, heartbroken all over again. This time it had been worse - she hadn't lost him, he had rejected her. Oh, she knew what she'd told him had been completely insane. Why should he believe a word of it' But logic and reason didn't make the pain any less. When he hurried out of his shop, she was only a little way away, hugging herself tightly as she stared, unseeing, at the beach before her, wanting nothing more than to go home and be alone with her misery once again.

Like her unexpected greeting a few minutes earlier, he didn't wait for her to acknowledge him or realize he was there. He pulled her by the arm around to face him, shoving the photograph at her, the look on his face a mixture of bewilderment and confusion, mingled with some fear and maybe a little hope. "What is this?" And more importantly, perhaps: "Where is this?" he demanded. "Please, I need to know the truth," he pleaded, letting her see the turmoil on his face, the confusion. If this was some sick joke, he needed to know that, too, but if it wasn't....Then something very strange and wonderful just might be happening. A miracle, even.

She jumped, flinching as he grasped at her, as the photograph she'd taken of him surfing was waved in her face, hurriedly, scrubbing at the tears that streaked her face as she tried to process what he was asking her. "It ....it's a beach near where I live," she tried to explain, her voice thick and oddly staccato with the lingering tears that just refused to stop coming. "It's a place called Rhy'Din, and it's real. It's as real as I am."

"There's two moons," he pointed out, stating the obvious, knowing the photograph could have been faked, but he knew no one who would have gone to such elaborate lengths just for a laugh, and there was nothing fake about those tears. "I don't..." He shook his head, clearly distraught, but not willing to dismiss it all as a joke, just yet. "I don't understand," he told her, his voice mirroring the confusion on his face.

He sighed, turning back toward the ocean again, that seemed to go on and on as far as the eye could see. Infinite, like time, like the universe, but life was wasn't like that. When your time was over, it was over. It was why he'd tried so hard to make the most of each day, never knowing when it might be his last. "I was gonna turn myself in, plead my case. Maybe I'll get lucky and just have to do a few years' community service somewhere." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what to do anymore. World's changed. I've changed. Everything's changing."

"I won't lie to you," Lena heard herself say, just as quiet as before, her gaze falling to the sand as she spoke. "Rhy'Din's very different from what you're used to. I mean, it's thirty-eight years into the future for you, even without the fantastical side of things. But no one forces you to do anything there. There'd be no pressure on you to be anything or anyone but yourself. And you wouldn't have to ever even see me again. I'd help you get settled and set up, and then I'll disappear. No pressure."

He slanted his gaze toward her again, the wind stirring the wisps of blond hair that had escaped the leather cord at the back of his neck. "Why wouldn't I wanna see you? Seems to me you're the key to this whole thing."

"Because you shouldn't make a decision to please anyone but yourself," she said, not daring to lift her gaze from the sand. "Live for the moment, right' Don't do what you're told, do what you do. You shouldn't come to Rhy'Din just because I say so. You should do it because you want to. And me being around, that's just pressure, and believe me, I know what being under pressure feels like, I've lived with it all my life. I would never do that to you."

"Did I love you?" he asked, point-blank, sensing the pain in her, the heartache. She loved him, and that alone was something new to him, something he hadn't experienced before, but she was willing to give all that up for what? Just to save his life and give him a second chance in a place where he was a stranger" Death wasn't the worst thing in life, he knew. Loneliness was. "Helena," he started, not yet knowing her well enough to shorten that name or find a suitable nickname. He didn't love her yet, but given time, he might, like he had before. "No one's ever....I mean..." He trailed off, fumbling with his own words. Where the Tommy she'd known had seemed so sure of himself, this Tommy faltered, taken completely off guard by the arrival of this beautiful stranger.

"I don't know," she admitted, letting out a sharp sigh of frustration with herself as just saying that aloud brought fresh tears to the fore. She loved a man who didn't know her, and even when he had known her, she had no way of knowing if he'd loved her in return. "If you did, you never said it. You didn't even hint toward it, you just said you'd be waiting for me to come get you. I feel like such an idiot telling you this." She closed her eyes, turning her face away entirely, ashamed of herself for being so emotional. He was right - loneliness was the worst thing in life. But she was offering to live with her loneliness, just so he lived. Jon would have slapped her six ways from Sunday if he'd been present. That wasn't the plan.

"I asked you to come for me," he echoed, as if this tidbit of information and everything it implicated was just sinking into his head. So, maybe it wasn't her he needed to believe, after all, but himself. He looked at the photograph he was still holding in his hand. He looked happy, truly happy, happier than he'd felt in a long time. "I need time. I mean....I can't just up and leave like that. I have to get that board ready and..." He looked back at her again, noting how she wouldn't look at him, wouldn't meet his gaze, afraid of something, maybe afraid of losing him all over again. "Would you....Would you wait for me" I only need a day or two at most. I just....I need a little time."

"I can wait." She nodded, still keeping her eyes from meeting his. "You can't get to Rhy'Din - well, my time on Rhy'Din - without me, so ....I'll wait. Just don't go to Laguna Beach. Please?" Finally those sad blue eyes met his, and it was her turn to plead without words. Losing him at a distance had broken her; losing him up close would destroy her. She didn't want to take that risk.

He smiled, reminding her of the Tommy she'd known in Rhy'Din. It had taken him a little while to wrap his head around things then, too, but he had eventually accepted what had happened to him and stopped fighting it. This Tommy was that Tommy, just a few days earlier. "No, I won't go to Laguna Beach. Promise," he said, lifting his hand as if making a pledge. "I don't know what to believe just yet, but I'm not willing to tempt fate." He offered an outstretched hand to her for the second time since she'd arrived. "Come on. Jack'll be wondering where I am, and you look like you could use a little rest. Or maybe a cup of coffee or something."

"Thank you." She wanted so much to hold him in that moment, to kiss him, to feel him holding her, but she'd promised not to lay any pressure on him. This was his decision to make, and she would never forgive herself if he made it just for her benefit. It would change things forever - she'd never know if he was with her because he wanted to be, or if it were only because he didn't want her to hurt anymore. Her hand slid into his as she raised a tiny smile for him, the other wiping at her face once more. "I swear, I'm not this weepy usually."

He mirrored that smile, her smile hinting at another side of her he didn't know yet. She was pretty, but even prettier when she was smiling, and he couldn't help but wonder if he could make her happy again. "It's okay. I won't hold it against you." He reached over to brush her hair back from her face as the sea breeze took it, more out of instinct than anything. He had nothing to lose really, and she already loved him, but he had to be careful. He didn't want to take advantage of her tender heart or risk breaking it again. "Do me a favor" Don't tell Jack what you just told me. He'll never believe you anyway."

Her smile deepened just a little at his reassurance, forcing herself not to lean into the brush of his fingers against her cheek as he swept her hair out of her way. "I won't," she promised him. "He thought I was strange enough when I showed up saying I was here to collect you anyway." Quite what she was going to do with herself for however long it took Tommy to decide what he was going to do was beyond her right now, but it didn't really matter. He wasn't going to Laguna Beach. He wouldn't get into the accident that would claim his life. That was all that really mattered.

"You think the truth might be too much for him to handle?" he asked as he led her down the beach at a slow stroll. Hell with the board. It could wait. This was so much more important. Tommy came to a sudden halt on the beach as they wandered past a bit of trash, and he couldn't help but stop to toss it in the trash can where it belonged. "Damned tourists," he muttered. "This place used to be a well-kept secret before they started surfing the Mavericks." Though that was well before his arrival here, the place was growing in popularity as surfing became more mainstream.

"I don't know," she shrugged, pausing as he picked up the litter to toss it away. "You know him better than I do. If it helps, I didn't tell him much the first time around." She walked with him a little way on, before gently tugging him to a halt. "Tommy ....you don't have to believe anything I say, you know. You don't have to act on any of it. I don't want to be responsible for a decision that doesn't sit right with you."

He wiped his hands on his jeans, which were looking like they'd seen better days, before falling into step beside her again, passing locals and tourists alike, some who recognized him and waved, others who were complete strangers. He came to a halt as she tugged him to a stop, brows furrowing in renewed confusion. "I thought you wanted me to believe you."

"I do, gods, of course I do," she said hurriedly. "I just ....I don't want you to do anything for me, if that makes any sense. I don't want to be pitied, and yes, I know I'm very pitiful right now." She let out a huff of breath, trying to make herself halfway coherent for him. "I've lived my whole life doing what other people want me to do, what everyone else expects me to do. It's never made me very happy. I just ....I don't want to put the same pressure on you. You don't deserve it."

He was frowning again as he listened to her, understanding what she was telling him, but it seemed unnecessary. He wasn't acting on this because he felt sorry for her, though he had found himself moved by her tears and by the obvious affection she'd felt for him or someone very like him. "Helena, look....Just slow down, okay' One step at a time. Let me get to know you. Stop pushing me away every time you think I might get a little too close." She wasn't consciously doing it, but he felt a fear in her, a reluctance. She seemed almost afraid to let him love her, as if she was undeserving of it. If she'd asked him to come with her, flat out, there was a good chance he would have done it. What other options did he have, after all"

Self-sabotage seemed to be a family trait in the Granger, and Lena had raised it to an art-form. She bit her lip as Tommy spoke, stopping herself from interrupting him again. "I'm sorry," she apologized, realizing that she was trying too hard not to put pressure on him. She wanted more, but didn't dare ask for it, knowing she had to see this through to its natural conclusion. But how did you go back to impersonal stranger, when you'd already had as intimate as it got"

"You have a pretty smile," he told her, taking a moment to sweep her hair back from her face. "You should do it more often." He didn't know why, but he was tempted to kiss her right then and there, like she'd done to him just a short while ago, and being Tommy, he couldn't help but go with his feelings. It had only taken two days for them to fall in love on Rhy'Din. There was no reason to think it wouldn't or couldn't happen again. He leaned in, hesitating a moment as if waiting for her permission, before following his instincts and brushing a brief kiss to her lips, sweet and innocent, but warm and wonderful.

He couldn't have shocked her more if he'd put thought into it. Short and sweet and wonderful as that kiss was, it threw her completely off-balance, leaving her raw and vulnerable to his eyes as she stared up at him, as the hateful voice in the back of her mind that still sounded like her father started to ask questions. Why had he done that' Was she really so pathetic that a kiss was the only way to shut her up" Did he pity her that much already? For a long moment, her mouth worked silently, before finally coming up with a response that was both appropriate and entirely inappropriate at once. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked, eyes shining once again, the dark mood passing over like a storm cloud in a sunny sky. "I should probably be thanking you," he linked his fingers with hers and fell back into step, slowly making their way down the beach toward their destination. At least, it was late enough in the morning that the place shouldn't be too crowded. They'd have a little privacy for a while. "It must have taken a lot of courage to come here."

Veering wildly off-balance now, Lena gave up trying to understand what was going on, suppressing the nasty voice in her head that wanted her to feel even worse about herself than she did already. "I don't think it was courage so much as desperation," she admitted with a fresh half-smile as she fell into step a little behind him. "I was driving my brother and sister completely up the wall with all the crying."

He came to a halt on the beach again, unsure why she was walking behind him and why she was so afraid of him, if she really loved him the way she said she did. "Helena....I'm not gonna hurt you, okay' I just need a little time. It's a lot to take in. Stop looking like I'm gonna kick you out of my life before I've even gotten to know you. Relax a little."

She flushed as he spoke to her, lowering her eyes remarkably like a child being scolded. She was afraid - afraid that in a few days he would decide he was staying on Earth, or that he would move to Rhy'Din on the proviso that she stayed well away from him. She was afraid of loving him, expecting to get her heart broken all over again, when it had not even begun to heal yet. "I'm sorry," she whispered, apologizing for herself once again. "I'll try."

There she was apologizing again, and she'd done nothing wrong. He just wanted her to relax a little and try to live in the moment, no matter what the future might bring. He frowned down at her, wondering just who this girl was and what she'd seen in him to make her fall for him so hard and so quickly. "Come on," he said, offering another smile, taking it upon himself to try and ease her pain, just like he had back in Rhy'Din. "We're never gonna get to breakfast if we keep stopping to talk."

He was both intrigued and touched by her answer, up until the moment she mentioned his *ss. Then his mouth just kind of hung open in undisguised shock at her remark, unsure if she was being honest or teasing him again. There was definitely an air of flirtation between them, and he was a little out of practice. Once his shock wore off, he laughed. "Right. Should I get it tattooed 'Property of Helena'?" he asked, teasing her back.

"Only if you're prepared to walk around without wearing pants for the rest of your life," she countered, refusing to be outdone in this department. "If my name's going on it, it's gotta be displayed. But if you're very good, I'll let you wear a posing pouch so not everything is flopping out there for the world to see." This was a side of her only Tommy had seen in recent years, a side that came out so easily with just a little encouragement. A flirtatious young woman who was more than capable of giving as good as she got, with the right person.

He snorted at the very thought of that, instinctively knowing she was teasing him now, just as he'd teased her. He wrapped a hand around the coffee cup in readiness for a sip. "I'm sure no one will notice," he remarked, teasing back. "But if I'm going to be walking around half naked, it's only fair you join me."

"Uh-huh." She paused to take a sip of her coffee, blue eyes watching him over the rim of her cup with obvious amusement. "So where would you like "Property of Tommy" tattooed on me?" she asked, lowering the cup back to the table with a small smile. "Unless you had something else in mind. "Tommy's Sex Goddess", maybe, or "King's Courtesan"."

"King's..." He trailed off, breaking into a fresh burst of laughter. "Let's just keep it simple, shall we?" He leaned forward, that mischievous smile back on his face. "How about....Hmm..." He looked her over a minute, remembering the nickname she'd pegged him with, though he wasn't quite sure why. "Midget. That's it. That's perfect. Midget and Moonbeam. Sounds like we're straight out of Beach Blanket Bingo."

He couldn't possibly have known that using one word to describe her would result in the incandescent beam of her smile rising happily in response. Without any prompting, he'd pegged her with exactly the same nickname, stoking the hope in her heart that they might just be following the same pattern as before. "My brother used to call me that when we were kids," she told him through her merry grin. "And you started calling me that, too, without being told."

"He did?" Tommy asked, looking more than a little surprised. He'd had no way of knowing that and why he'd picked the nickname from out of the blue, he had no idea. It just seemed to fit. He didn't have a lot of time to think about it though, as the waitress had returned to take their order.

"So, Tommy, you gonna introduce us to your girlfriend?" the waitress asked, with a conspiratorial wink at Helena.

"Yeah, he did." Lena's grin eased off just a little as the waitress came back to them, a quiet snicker escaping her lips as he was put on the spot by a friend. And she couldn't resist joining in with a wink of her own to the waitress. "Yeah, Tommy, aren't you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?" Tommy echoed, looking between the two of them before darting a gaze around the room. "I don't have a girlfriend," he pointed out, realizing too late that they were teasing him. "Uh," he turned back to the two women at the table, one sitting and one standing but both looking more than a little bit smug. "Sandy, this is....this is Lena," he said, shortening her name again, without her prompting. "She's an old friend."

"Uh huh," the waitress replied, knowing better. She could tell there was something going on between them. "What can I get you, hon?" she asked, as she turned her smile back to Lena, already knowing what Tommy wanted, as he'd told them he wanted his usual.

"Nice to meet you, Sandy." Lena's smile was just that little bit brighter once again as the familiar shortening of her name, something that hadn't happened for several hours last time she'd been with Tommy. "Surprise me, I trust you." How was that for living in the moment' Never mind that she hadn't even glanced at the menu; she was embracing not having any plans for the time being.

"Okey dokey," the waitress replied. "I'll be back in a bit!" she declared before hurrying away.

Tommy rolled his eyes once she was gone, leaning in to correct Lena on the matter of girlfriends. "They aren't my girlfriends. I haven't had a girlfriend since..." He broke off, with a perplexed look on his face. How long had it been" A few years at least, he thought to himself before taking a sip of his coffee. "Besides, we're supposed to be talking about you."

Her brow rose, the smile gentling just enough not to be teasing him any longer. "I know," she assured him. "You're a friendly guy, everyone likes you. I'm not going to assume you've slept with every woman in the immediate vicinity." Her hand rose to tuck a hank of hair back behind her ear as she watched him for a moment. "You haven't asked me anything yet," she reminded him affectionately.

"I'm not sure what to ask," he admitted, a little perplexed again. He leaned back in his chair, considering quietly a moment. "Okay, what do you do for a living?" he asked, unsure where to begin. What was too personal? What was too personal enough' Her favorite color was probably pretty unimportant, considering the grand scheme of things and wouldn't really tell her much about who she really was. He knew she came from another world, had a brother, and was in love with him. He didn't know much more, other than that.

"You can ask me anything," she told him softly, before letting him open up with his first query. Nice and safe, but would tell him pretty much nothing about her. Unless she offered him something else. "Well, at the moment, I'm a junior textile designer for a large conglomerate company, which my family owns and runs. But it's not really what I want to do. I paint, when I have time, but until I met you, I didn't show anyone what I was doing. Maybe one day I'll get brave enough to try doing that for a living."

"No, you're right," she assured him. "Trust me, I've been in enough therapy to know that you're right. My dad was horrible man. He treated my mom like dirt, he drove my brother out of the house. And I still stayed and looked after him when he started to drink himself to death. I wanted him to love me, so I did what he told me to do. It became a habit, and now he's the voice in my head telling me what an idiot I am every time I try to go my own way." She shrugged, shaking her head at her own weakness. "So anyway, that's my sad sob story. Being scared is a way of life, but I'm doing the things that scare me more and more. I've been backpacking on my own, I fell in love with a man I barely knew. I took a risk with my heart and I got burned badly, but here I am. I think I'm allowed to be a little bit scared of taking that risk again, don't you think?"

"Only an idiot wouldn't be scared sometimes, but you can't let it stop you from living. Besides, I haven't run away screaming yet, have I?" He offered that warm smile again, but this time there was more feeling behind it, not so much mirth but warmth, compassion, understanding. "My dad was an *ss, too. Jack probably told you that much already." He let got of her hand and picked up his fork to cut into his eggs. If they didn't eat soon, it would all go to waste, and there was no point in that. "He had my whole life planned for me, but..." Tommy shrugged. "I had my own plans."

Reminded by his sudden interest in food that she had a plateful of breakfast in front of her, Lena picked up her own cutlery, surprised to find that she was ravenous. Evidently she hadn't been eating, either. "He didn't tell me much," she assured him as they ate. "I suppose I could have asked, but all I really wanted to do was run home to my brother." Her smile as she said this was rueful, but honest. "I envy you that you stood up for yourself. You chose where you wanted to go and you stuck to your ideals. You're a rare man, Tommy."

There was that shrug of his again, shrugging off her compliment, not quite believing it of himself. "There are a lot of people who would call me a coward," he pointed out, but like always, he didn't really want to talk about himself. This was supposed to be about her. "What you did was braver. It's not that hard to run away. It's a lot harder to stay."

"We're going to have to agree to disagree on that one," she told him with a gentle smile. "And you're not a coward, no matter what anyone thinks or says. Not to me." Although, on reflection, that probably didn't mean as much as she would have liked it to have meant to him. "But yeah, I've learned over the years that it's easier to keep people out than to let them hurt you. You don't get hurt, but you don't get loved, either."

"Yeah," he agreed quietly. "I've learned that, too." The similarities in their pasts and personalities wasn't lost on Tommy. He was too smart for that, and he wondered why fate had chosen to drop her into his life for what, for her at least, was a second time. She said she loved him, and that was the first time he'd heard that in a very long time. He turned quiet as he pushed his eggs around on his plate, thoughtful, contemplative, and just a little too serious.

She watched him for a long moment, wondering just what it was in his past that made him so quiet every now and then. Perhaps one day he'd tell her, but she wasn't going to push him into anything. Instead, she made an effort to lighten the conversation. "Did I shock you so much you've forgotten how to use a fork?" she asked him with a sweet smile, the gentle twinkle back in her eyes. "Or are you building a monument to hen?"

He smiled as she drew him back out of his thoughts, amused at her question, his mood brightening. "Funny girl," he remarked as picked up a slice of bacon and took a bite. "It's not every day a pretty girl walks into the shop and tells me she's from my future." Or that she's in love with me, he added silently. He wasn't sure if he'd call it shocked exactly, but her arrival was unexpected at the very least.

"Well, I'd hope not," she agreed with an almost shy smile. "Otherwise how else would I stand out?" She dropped her gaze then to the food on her plate, surprised to find how much of it she had already eaten. Apparently the not eating and not sleeping portion of grieving had hit her harder than she had thought. No wonder Dru had been so annoying the last few days. "What are your surfboards made out of?"

"Changing the subject?" he asked, taking another crunching bite out of the bacon slice, studying her carefully. For some reason, she continually seemed reluctant to meet his gaze. "I won't bite, you know," he pointed out, wondering what she was afraid of. Was she afraid of losing him again, afraid he might not believe her"

"Sort of." Blue eyes lifted to his once more, startled to find him already studying her across the table. Too startled to hide the tender warmth in her gaze before he saw it, or stop the blush from darkening her cheeks as she laughed quietly and looked away yet again. "I know you won't," she assured him. "Like I said, I'm scared. My problem, not yours."

"I'm the one who should be scared, don't you think?" he asked, turning the tables on her, like he had a habit of doing. "I'm the one whose living on borrowed time, right' So, what happens if I cheat death? Does it just catch up with me later" I mean, no one lives forever, right?" He frowned apologetically as he realized he was being morose. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." It was his turn to look away, turning attention to his breakfast, breaking open his eggs and soaking up the yolk with his toast.

The question wiped the smile from her face, hit in the chest with the possibility that no matter what she did, he might still die in two days. Setting her knife and fork down, she pushed her plate away, appetite gone. "I don't know," she admitted, rolling her eyes in frustration as she heard her voice tremble on just those three words. She'd thought she was in control of the crying, but obviously not. "I guess I didn't really think it through."

He sighed, wishing he hadn't said that, hadn't mentioned the elephant in the room or whatever they called it. He had made her smile and now it looked like he was about to make her cry. It seemed no matter what he did, he just couldn't win. Why did things have to be so complicated" Or did they' He set his toast down and reached for her hand. "Helena, I'm sorry. Please don't cry. I'm not worth crying over, believe me."

"Uh ..." She bit her lip, lowering her coffee back to the table as she leaned forward on her elbows. Her appetite had gone its own winsome way, leaving her plate half-empty and destined to remain so. "Well, I know you're familiar with the concept of the multiverse. Rhy'Din is the place where all universes overlap. Anything is possible on Rhy'Din. And I do mean anything. There are dragons, and minotaurs, and vampires. Elves and dwarves, and cyborgs. Anything you can imagine, you can find it on Rhy'Din."

"Now you are teasing me," he said, eying her doubtfully again. He knew what most of those things were, sort of, from books and movies, though he wasn't too sure what a cyborg was exactly. It sounded like some sort of robot, he thought, but he wasn't too sure.

"I'm really not, this time," she said, her expression a little apologetic, even through her smile. "I went to elementary school with a hobbit and a half-orc. One of my cousins is mated with a mermaid. My oldest brother is marrying a woman whose daughter is a Fae. It's all very real, Moonbeam. I haven't lied to you yet, why would I start now?"

"Wait..." He scrutinized her over his coffee cup, which he had raised half-way to his mouth. "First of all, I don't even know what a half-orc is, and do you mean fae as in faery?" He'd heard of hobbits, but only in passing. "You're saying vampires are real" Do they all walk around wearing black capes and saying, 'I vant to suck your blood'?" he quipped, doing his best Dracula impression.

"I guess I mean fae as in faery. I haven't really taken the time to study a two-year-old little girl in any great depth." She shrugged, shaking her head as she watched him, her smile deepening ruefully at his quip. "I just lost you, didn't I" Some things need to be seen to be believed, I guess." Glancing down at her plate, she reached down to pick up her bag. "How much do I owe you for breakfast?" she asked, opening the flap and inserting her arm to above the elbow in a bag that shouldn't even have been able to take her hand to the wrist.

He took a swallow of coffee, about to tell her he thought she'd been watching too much late night television when she stuck nearly her entire arm into a space where it shouldn't have logically fit. "That's a neat trick. Do you know magic, too?" he asked, assuming it had to be some kind of magic trick or illusion, ignoring her question as his eyes were drawn to her bag.

"Uh, no." Helena laughed as she peered into the bag, rummaging around for her purse, which seemed to have disappeared underneath all the other crap she carried around with her. "Oh, you mean the bag" It's called a bag of holding. It's enchanted to be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. I've got enough clothes and shoes for a week in here, besides everything else."

"Sure you do," he said, as doubtful about her bag as he was about the existence of vampires and dragons. He'd give her the benefit of the doubt about the moons and the tides, but he wasn't so sure about the rest. He took another swig of his coffee before setting his cup down and reaching into his blue jeans for a few dollar bills. It was 1975 and breakfast was pretty cheap by her standards.

Excavating her purse finally, she dropped a few bills of her own onto the table, and dropped the purse back into her bag. "Oh, I do," she promised him, offering the small bag over to him. "Go ahead, take a look. I promise, all the underwear is clean."

He was about to tell her that $4 was way too much for breakfast, even including a tip, when she offered him the bag. "Is this some kind of trick?" he asked, meaning magic again. He didn't know much about magic, but he knew you couldn't really pull a rabbit out of a hat. It was just a trick. He hesitated a moment before reaching for the bag.

"No, it really isn't," she assured him encouragingly. "Go on, take it. Nothing in there's going to bite you." Of course, she didn't think she'd put too much money down - a cursory check of the economy of this era had given her a very rough idea of prices, and frankly, overpaying for anything wasn't really on her list of things not to do.

He furrowed his brows at her as he set the small bag on his lap and pulled it open, almost expecting something to jump out at him. He peered into the bag at its contents, unsure what he was going to find there. "If you really want to show me your underwear, there are easier ways."

"Suck it up and look inside," she laughed at his hesitance. There was nothing in there that would startle him too much. Admittedly, it was like looking into a large sack through a small opening, but there really was far too much in there - clothing, a washbag, a stack of books, a roll of copper coins, a smartphone - though it was highly doubtful he had any idea what that was - her laptop, a much loved sketchbook, fresh pencils ....she appeared to be carrying her whole life in that small, light bag.

He didn't start pulling things out, though he might later, but the expression on his face as he started taking a tally of items - some that he recognized and a few that he didn't - shifted from doubtful to curious to amazed. "I don't understand," he said as he poked around inside the bag. "How's it work?"

She shrugged again. She'd never been interested in the study of charms and spells, content to take them on faith. They were as much a part of Rhy'Din as the advanced sciences that were cooked up at Stars End. "It's magic," she said simply. "Real magic, not an illusion. I don't know exactly how it works, but it does. If it didn't, I'd have shown up here with a suitcase."

The bag was just more evidence that her story was true, that she really was from another world somewhere - he wasn't sure where. He'd never heard of any star system called Rhy'Din, but then he'd never been too keen on astronomy, other than to admire the stars and recognize a few constellations here and there. "So....How does this work exactly' You said you open a portal to this Rhy'Din place and we walk through?" He handed her back the bag intact, but not before taking a sneak peek at her underwear.

She caught where his mind might possibly be going. "The further back you go, the more is different when you get back to your own time," she told him quickly. "Changing one thing can change everything. With you, with me, it's a matter of days, and it doesn't change that much, really. But if I was to take you back to save Robby, or your mother ....someone else would die in their place, and your whole life would be different. To the point where you might never have been picked up by the Nexus, I might never have met you, and nothing that spurred you on to save those lives in the first place would happen, which would throw time itself for a loop. Time is linear; some things have to happen."

Her explanation made sense, and somehow he knew she was right, but it brought another thought to mind, one he wasn't sure he wanted to discuss. "I know. I don't know how I know, but I know. What happened happened and changing the past might make things worse, but..." He cut himself off before he could continue. She needed to get some rest and he needed to get that board done. It would do them both good to stop thinking about things so hard for a while.

"If this is how it's supposed to happen, then it'll happen," Lena murmured softly. "Like I said, it's a risk I had to take." She knew that she might well have to relive his death if Time objected to this little intervention. Just the thought of that spurred her to walk closer beside him, laying her cheek against his shoulder for a moment or two.

He felt her nuzzle close to him and he wound an arm around her without even thinking about it. If it was meant to be, it would be, and if not....He frowned a little at the thought. He wasn't afraid of death really. It was the fear of the unknown more than death itself that scared him. But he was finally starting to understand a little of what she was feeling. Even though he hardly knew her, now that he'd found her, he didn't really want to let go. It didn't seem fair that Fate might take him away from her a second time. Was it worth the risk" Would she be able to live with the consequences if it happened again? A million questions were going through his mind, all the whys and what ifs. Questions that might never be answered. "There's not much left for me here," he mused aloud, more to himself than to her. He'd hinted at as much already, but it was worth repeating.

Lena felt herself relax as his arm draped about her, the tension discernibly bleeding from her body under that gentle closeness, her own arm rising to loop about his waist in answer. "I dropped a lot on you this morning," she murmured to him. "You really don't have to make this decision right now. Think about it first. Be sure."

He came to a halt, turning with her to look out over the water that was lapping up onto the shore, her arm around his waist, his about her shoulder, looking very much like a young couple in love, though he'd only met her a few hours earlier. "I'd never see this place again," he said. Though he'd already decided to leave Half Moon Bay, it was no secret how much he loved this place, or had before Robby had died.

"Well ....not in 1975," she told him, realizing she'd forgotten to reassure him about one thing. "You'd be able to come here in 2012, if you wanted to. You could visit all kinds of places on Earth, so long as you don't step back in time." She glanced up at him, sparing a thought to wonder what Jack was making of this, since they were now in sight of the shop itself. "I know it won't be the same, but it's something."

"It's not the same anymore. It won't be the same then. Everything changed when....when Robby died." He grew quiet again, his heart aching for the innocence of a past that was lost forever. She was doing more than just helping him cheat Death; she was offering him a chance at a new life. "There are other beaches, other surfs," he said aloud, his eyes watching the surf as it rolled slowly over the beach. "A place with two moons and four tides," he remarked quietly.

"Where no one tells you what you should be doing with your life but you." Without thinking, she twisted, curling her other arm about him until he was wrapped in her embrace, her cheek on his shoulder, her eyes on the sea. She breathed him in slow and steady, memorizing that scent all over again, scoring it into her memory, just in case. A place where you'll be loved, even if you never set foot there. Because I love you, and I always will.

It was a tempting offer, but it wasn't just the offer of a new life that was tempting him as it was the girl who had come back for him. He wrapped his arms around her as she turned herself into him, closing his eyes to savor and memorize the moment. It was one moment in time, and it would never come again. It felt good to hold her there, this gentle flower of a girl he was only just getting to know, and somehow he knew he had already decided. He wanted this moment to go on forever, and the only way to do that was to make a leap of faith. A leap that would take him thirty-eight years in the future to another time, another place, another world, another life. Two days was all he had to decide. Two days that could mean the difference between life and death. Two days that would decide the rest of not just his life, but hers as well. But as she had said, it was a risk worth taking. Together.

((Many thanks to Tommy's player!))