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Agent Chevron Savano had been through a lot to say the very least. After accomplishing her mission of saving her dad after all this time, she was finally at peace and ready to become one with the wormhole that had had its hold on her despite all the years she'd been avoiding it.
She stripped off the silver she'd carried with her for so many years, no longer afraid of the call. She'd lived her life, longer than it would have without having been assigned to the W.A.R.P. unit in London so long ago - or a decade in the other direction, time travel was weird - and she couldn't say she had any regrets. Despite her best efforts though, Chevie was only human, and could only do so much to keep her mind clear before the wormhole took her. And before she could stop herself, Riley's face filled her mind, even after all these years, and off she went.
The last thing Chevie expected was to open her eyes again. After all, particles in the wormhole didn't have eyes per say, or really any physical form. In fact, Chevie hadn't really expected anything at all after the wormhole took her. Eternal one-ness with the universe maybe? But nothing as concrete or as real as opening her eyes. And certainly not to open her eyes in the Orient Theater of all places, it's grand stage and filled up seats a scene she'd pictured many times on her travels.
She looked around, surprised to find the Orient packed full of people. Chevie didn't think she'd ever seen so many people in the Orient at once, although to be fair the majority of the times Chevie had been in the Orient they weren't exactly running a show.
Her pulse quickened as she realized why people would be packed so heavily into the Orient, because surely they weren't there because they had nothing better to do, no, if people were packed into the Orient it meant they were there for entertainment which meant-
Chevie sucked in a small shocked gasp as she turned her attention to the stage, all too fast and yet all too slow as well and was surprised that she had to squint to make out the features in the darkness before the lights came up. She hadn't needed to squint to see in the dark since before the wormhole had turned her eyes into Tinder's, and while she doubted she'd been lucky enough for the wormhole to provide her with a mirror, she was almost certain she'd gotten her own eyes back.
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Chevie must have been dreaming or something, maybe rejoining with the wormhole had given her one last crazy hallucination before it all disappeared before her eyes again, a cruel hope offered to her only for it to be snatched away, only, upon the stage, orange glowing dots seemed to float in the air, gaining the audience's attention, holding them captivated as they murmured about the magic of it all.
Chevie quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, walking down the aisle at the edges of the rows to get closer to the stage, she had to see, she had to be sure, she had to know for sure if it was real.
The orange particles - the quantum particles, Chevie dared to hope - floated closer and closer together, congealing into one solid person, standing on the stage.
Riley, Chevie thought, too afraid to call out his name for fear that saying it out loud would make this already too good to be true daydream pop like a bubble on a cactus.
His eyes landed on two people in the front row of the audience first, Chevie recognized one as none other than Bob Winkle, and the other, well she'd never met him, but if being in the FBI had taught Chevie anything, it was basic deduction skills, and the mop of red hair was a dead giveaway, even if she hadn't seen the look of pleased surprise on Riley's face immediately after.
Tom, Chevie thought to herself. Bob must have found him after Garrick sucked us back into the wormhole and killed the fake Tom.
A small smile tugged at her lips. Even if it was all some trick the wormhole had created, Chevie was going to enjoy it while it lasted. She'd lived long enough to know to appreciate a moment while you had it.
And then Riley was scanning the crowd again, a massive smile on his face that seemed to only get impossibly wider when his eyes landed on Chevie.
The cheers that had overtaken the audience at Riley's miraculous appearance had begun to die down, and no matter how much the two of them longed to run to the other, both knew that it was not the time. After all, Riley had a show to put on.
He bowed low before the crowd, a grin from ear to ear still splitting his face as he stood back up and said, "The Great Savano at your service."
Chevie's heart was pounding in her chest. She couldn't believe this was real. Riley was here and so was she, and if the quantum particles had been any indication then for Riley, no time had passed at all from them returning back from Salem. She allowed herself to smile wide at the opportunity that had been handed to her before all of a sudden she remembered the reason why she hadn't reunited with Riley in the first place when she'd had the chance, a cold pit growing in the center of her stomach.
Riley was supposed to have a wife, a daughter, a life, and Chevie only showing up would only mess that up. While the wormhole had brought the two of them together, it had still given both of them enough trauma to last multiple life times, who knew what it would do with the two of them together again. And if the wormhole had dropped her off here, there was still a chance it might come to take her back if she didn't have enough-
Silver, Chevie thought, looking down at her arms, surprised to find the silver bangles still there, even though she knew she'd taken all her jewelry off before entering the wormhole.
Hesitantly, Chevie slipped the bangles off, not feeling the tug of the wormhole at all. Even when she'd first escaped from its grip, she'd felt the faint call to return, and no matter how much silver she'd put on it hadn't ever truly dampened the feeling. Chevie reached a hand to her neck, unclasping the silver necklace there too, and still nothing.
Tears welled up in her eyes again once more. Was she really free of the wormhole? Could this really be true?
It was only then, when she went to put her spare jewelry into pockets that weren't there - damn women's fashion - that she'd realized what it was she was wearing. A sunflower yellow dress with a woven bonnet.
... Just like she'd seen Riley's daughter and his wife wearing when she'd come to find him all those years ago.
No, Chevie thought to herself in shock. This was too good to be true, there was no way that everything could possibly end this nicely. Am... I the wife I saw Riley with all those years ago? This has to be some sort of time paradox or something.
It wouldn't have been the weirdest thing Chevie encountered, but maybe, just maybe, this time she actually had a chance at happiness. Maybe, instead of uprooting her life entirely, the wormhole had decided to absorb the dark matter inside of her and just... Let her be.
Thank Tecumseh, Chevie thought, her smile returning with full force. Her dad was alive, and she was here, in the Orient Theater with Riley and his brother, and no wormhole time bomb that would lay claim to her when she least expected it. She may not have understood it, but she barely understood the majority of what had happened to her since being assigned to the W.A.R.P. pod, so for once, instead of looking a gift horse in the mouth, Chevie decided to accept it, and enjoy it for however long it lasted.
With a skip in her step, Chevie headed the rest of the way down the aisle to sit in the front row next to Bob and Tom, smiling up at Riley, who seemed to keep glancing subtly in her direction every few moments, even as he entertained the crowd, as if to make sure she were still there, and Chevie felt a faint blush rise to her cheeks as she took her seat. As long as she could help it, she wasn't going anywhere.
Orient Theater, Holborn, London, 1913
Fourteen years after Chevie's miraculous reappearance in London, Chevie was returning from her walk through the streets surrounding the Orient Theater, holding her daughter's hand as she shrieked with happy giggles as her husband Riley pulled daisies from behind her ear.
Even after all the years, Chevie hadn't been able to figure out just how Riley was able to pull off such fantastical slight of hand tricks, no matter how many times he'd tried to teach her, and they delighted their daughter to no end.
Chevie bent down to place a kiss to her daughter's head, smiling at her husband before giving him a chaste kiss too when she felt the sensation of someone watching her.
She looked up and into the distance where she'd thought she'd felt the stare from, unable to shake off her FBI training, even after all this time as she scanned the crowd, looking for people that could be watching her and why, finding no one. It was then that she looked down at what she was wearing, the sunflower yellow dress she'd appeared with when she'd shown up in London for the final time, the same shade as her daughter's and Chevie's smile widened.
"What?" Riley said, a smile on his face as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, only to pull another daisy from nowhere.
Their daughter giggled again, reaching her small hands out for the daisy and Riley crouched to hand it to her, a questioning glance still in his eyes as he looked up at his wife to figure out what had brought her joy in that moment.
"It's nothing," Chevie told him, still smiling softly to herself, knowing whatever paradox she'd created had just looped itself. "I'm just... Happy is all."
And without another word, Chevie Savano-Riley scooped up her daughter, placing a kiss on both her cheeks before taking her husbands hand as the three of them headed the rest of the way home.