Chapter Text
“Dylan… I will—I promise.”
Four years have passed since that horrendous incident.
Regina combed through her short red locks and fixed her brown eyes again on the multitude of documents before her. The research on Third Energy was thorough, but nearly impossible for her to understand.
After the events that took place near Edward City all those years ago, Regina was pulled away from any missions with S.O.R.T, having been asked to stay back and complete paperwork and essentially undertake a desk job. As much as she was itching to get back onto the field and complete operative assignments for the betterment of the world, she was also plagued with nightmares and night terrors about what she had witnessed and experienced.
Her employers knew about Dylan Morton, knew about what he had asked Regina to do, but they knew that continuing to tamper with time and its continuum would have drastic effects on the world as they knew it.
Regina understood that—or at least, wanted to.
But after all the paperwork was typed, filed, checked by Gail; she would linger in her office and sift through the research on Third Energy, hoping that one day the mass of numbers and formulas would click.
“I know you don’t want to, but you have to go back by yourself.”
“You still in here, Regina?” Rick walked through the door to her office with a cup of steaming coffee in his hand. He surveyed her desk and saw the maze of papers and her frantic handwriting in red ink. Her head was on the table, her arms being used as a makeshift pillow. Rick eyed the time on his watch and sighed.
He began thumbing through the paperwork on her desk, careful not to disturb her; however, nothing could slip past her. She jolted upright, hand immediately reaching for the ghost of where she once kept her pistol strapped to her thigh. Her fingers wiggled around aimlessly for the metallic feel of the weapon, for the familiar weight of its handle in her hand before she blinked up at her partner and furrowed her brow.
“Rick,” she huffed, sitting back down on the office chair and shaking her head. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He ran a hand through his braided hair, shrugging. “I had to come in early.”
She eyed the clock, realizing how late it was and how desperately she needed sleep. She stifled the yawn that was crawling up her throat. “It’s almost 3 AM. What do you mean early?”
“By early, I mean check on you.” He leaned over her desk and found her cellphone underneath a stack of papers. “I tried calling and texting and was worried you were probably working yourself sick.”
Regina bit her lip, knowing her unhealthy work habits.
“Any leads?”
She nodded her head to the stack of papers that were full of codes she hadn’t yet deciphered.
Rick pulled up another chair next to hers and the two began working together in silence. She trusted Rick the most out of any of her comrades. She enjoyed the banter, the way he looked after her during their mission on Ibis Island. Regina would never forget the lengths he went into making sure her and Gail were safe.
“I’m going to save him, y’know.”
He laughed. “Oh, I know.”
“I don’t care how long it takes me.”
“Yes, Regina—you made a promise.”
“Just go, please. You have the Third Energy data, right? When you get back to our original time, use the data to learn about Third Energy, then build a perfect gate and come pick us up from the last time.”
Regina could recall that look of pure dedication on Dylan’s face when she turned around one final time, a split-second decision on whether or not she herself should stay behind too. The sacrificial moment had left as quick as it came, and she understood what Dylan was asking of her. He trusted her, and she wouldn’t let anyone ever question their trust for the other.
At this current moment, however, she knew that Dylan and the young girl were dead. As time continued to push forward, Dylan Morton would cease to exist. Parts of Regina wished that she made Dylan’s persona up, that there was no T.R.A.T member that accompanied her through Edward City and helped her escape the land overran by dinosaurs.
But she held onto it.
A small necklace with a turquoise charm. Dylan had said the necklace belonged to his sister when they were on the brink of discovering the data disk. When they were defending themselves from the angry triceratops in the Jeep, and the car overturned, the necklace had once again slipped out and landed in the tall grass. She saw the glint of the metal fly past her vision, the sun hitting it just right. In any other instance, she would’ve ignored something like a piece of jewelry, but after hearing the backstory and sentiment it carried, she picked it up with every intention of giving it back to Dylan. But when the velociraptors ambushed them and David came to their rescue, Regina never found a time to fork over the necklace.
And now, she was lucky to have it in her possession. It was her reminder that Dylan was real, and that she had a promise to keep. He deserved to have the necklace back.
She closed the box that kept the necklace and pushed it back into her dresser’s drawer.
She heard faint knocking coming from the front door of her condo. She closed the drawer and tiptoed into her living room. People didn’t come over, and if they did, it was always planned. She was never into people coming into her space, not now and she didn’t think she ever would. Regina peered down at her loungewear, a grey t-shirt and a pair of black gym shorts hugging her athletic frame.
Without even getting the chance to fully disengage the locks, the front door was being pushed open and she was left in a state of vulnerability.
“Hell, Gail!” she threw her arms out, vestiges of her prior training still bubbling within her. They could take woman out of S.O.R.T, but they couldn’t take S.O.R.T out of the woman.
“What the hell are you doing snooping through the data on Third Energy?” Gail groaned, pushing past her. “You realize all of that information is classified, yes?”
“I can’t do this tonight,” she pinched her brow and lifted a wary eye to the buzzed headed blonde. “How did you find out?”
“Rick is a terrible liar.”
She huffed.
“I came in early and saw him working at your desk. It finally clicked why I’ve been seeing you two moseying around for the last few months.”
“Moseying around?”
“I got the impression you two were dating, but somehow, knowing what you really are doing would make me much more pleased to know if you two were seeing one another.”
She snorted. “Oh, you know I could never take away Rick from you like that.”
She watched as his ears turned pink. “Cut that out.”
Regina crossed over to her small kitchenette, leaning her elbows down on the countertop where a stack of papers sat. Untouched mail, unopened bills, countless magazines all thrown into a messy pile. With her eyes trained on the jumble of papers, she let out a breathless sigh. When she left things unattended, that’s when she knew she was getting restless. She should’ve known there was something up when Rick would catch her snoozing at her job when she wasn’t even on the clock.
“Look,” Gail warned, “These are our jobs we’re talking about.”
“I understand that—”
“No, Regina, you don’t.” Gail’s voice was thick with ice. “If the higherups end up finding out what you’re doing, you’ll be terminated. I’ll be terminated.”
The redhead combed through her short locks, pushing her bangs out of her face. “I’m the one who is doing the sneaking around.” She drummed her fingernails on the counter and shook her head. “I’m going to save him. When I finally save Dylan and that young girl, they’re going to know I was tampering with Third Energy. If they want to fire me after that, fine.”
“When you save him.” Gail muttered, repeating her. “It’s been four years, Regina.”
“Yeah, it has.”
She could see the gears turning in his head. “You won’t quit then.”
Regina looked annoyed. He knew her better than this.
Gail pressed his weight into the counter, leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re a hell of a solider, Regina.”
Something turned in her insides at the comment. She wasn’t sure if Gail had ever complimented her until now.
“I wish you were back on the frontlines with us.”
She eyed her teammate. Two compliments in one night was strange and she had the urge to tell him to shut it because the last thing she needed was to blush in front of her superior.
She pressed her lips together. “Not that you haven’t read that lengthy ass report I wrote about the incident, but Dylan had my back. We saved each other’s lives. David risked his life for the both of us. I’m going back in time for thirty seconds, if that, to save him and that girl. He would do the same for me.”
The lieutenant regarded her for a moment. Regina and Rick had always valued the lives of others—which he admired, but never could do for himself. Gail had always put the mission’s objective before anything else. The decisions he had made back on Ibis Island easily could’ve gotten himself killed—he didn’t want to go back to that time. He currently was standing where he was because of Regina and Rick. They went back for him, they saved him, too.
He knew better than to question the savior complex that plagued his two teammates, because part of that complex started staining him too.