Alice took a deep breath in, focusing hard on the timing of her inhale and then a deep breath out. She took another deep breath in with her eyes closed and then again, another deep breath out.

Ding!

Alice opened her eyes at the end of the exhale and raised the rifle to her shoulders, placing her left foot forward and leaning weight onto her right foot. A target rose down the range behind some sandbags.

Bbang!

The target dropped with two shots to the center of ma.s.s. Another target rose up from the back of the range, 100 meters. BBang! Another double-tap dropped the target, one to the chest and one to the neck. Two more targets shot up from the middle of the range and started moving from left to right and right to left. BBang! BBang! Five targets rose up from the back of the range and started to move forward. Alice clicked the firing mode pin on her rifle and held the trigger. Ratatatatatat! The targets dropped one by one as she pulled the rifle slowly from right to left. Tung! Alice dropped the rifle at the sound of her magazine running out and it swung to her side, held in place by the strap around her shoulder. She dropped her hand to her side and when she felt the handle of her sidearm, she unholstered it and raised it to shoulder height, holding one hand on the trigger and the other supporting its weight under the handle. Two targets rose up from 20 meters down the range. BBang, bbang! Another target rose up from behind the sandbags but Alice had already shot before she had time to think about what she was shooting at. BBang!

"Ohhh, f.u.c.k!" she yelled, releasing the clip of the pistol and slamming the gun down on the table. The last target she shot, was a civilian target. A mother pus.h.i.+ng her pram.

"Who the f.u.c.k brings a pram to a warzone!?" she said exasperated.

There was a slow clap from the sidelines. Alice looked up to see Sean who was watching her the entire time as he clapped his hands slowly and walked over to her.

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"Aside from murdering that innocent mother on the way to her yoga cla.s.s, your times pretty good," I said.

"Oh shut up," Alice replied, regaining her composure and clearing the guns on the table.

"I'm serious though, you're a pretty good shot," I said.

"I know I am," Alice said smiling, "It's one of my hidden talents."

"If only one of your hidden talents was p.u.b.erty," I joked.

"Who has the guns here Sean?" she asked rhetorically, "Who has the guns?"

"Right, right, sorry," I said.

"Why are you in here anyway?" Alice asked as she opened a bottle of water and drinking it.

"I came to check up on you," I said, "We're about to go on our first big mission to get a new teammate, I wanted to see how you were feeling."

"It's not our first big mission," she said wiping the excess water off her mouth.

"I know," I said sombrely, "I remember Sydney, and that's why I wanted to check up on you."

"I'll be fine," she said, "There won't be another time like Sydney."

She walked over towards a couch at the back wall of the room and sat down, spreading her self across most of the couch.

"Come sit," she said.

"Where?" I asked.

She moved her legs in and made room for me to sit on the couch. I obliged and dropped down next to her.

"I get it," Alice started, "What I did in Sydney jeopardized our entire mission, we failed a simple recon mission that should have been simple. In and out."

"I mean, you didn't entirely jeopardize it. The guy was a bad man anyway," I said, "All you did was expedite what would have happened anyway. And probably by our hands too."

"It's just," she said, "When I saw him lay that unconscious woman down on the bed and start to undress her and touch her with his filthy hands, I just, I kind of lost the plot, and I put us both in danger."

"I know, I was disgusted too, and I wanted to do something too, and I just want to let you know that I don't blame you for what you did," I said, "I just don't want what happened then to become hesitations in the future."

"Sean my job is to protect you," she said, "I've come to realize now that it all of the bad stuff happening, isn't our job to fix. My priority is making sure you're safe."

"I appreciate it but I don't need your protection," I said, "You don't have to worry about me so much."

"But I do Sean," she said, "This enemy that we are going to be fighting, I might have tipped them off about us that night. And I get that you don't need protection but you kind of do. No one else has the power to manipulate time, I've accepted that you are the most important person in the world right now because whatever plan the original Sean came up with, it all revolves around you and your ability to manipulate time!"

"You're going to make me blush if you keep talking about how important I am," I said.

"Shut up!" she replied.

"How I am your priority," I joked.

"Shut up Sean!" she said half laughing at the joke, "I'm serious, you are my priority. Not even just for our mission or for fighting against the enemy. At least acknowledge that the last few years for us have just been a blend of spending all of our time with each other."

"I've got to admit," I said, "It would be pretty boring around here if you weren't ambus.h.i.+ng me all of the time. I would have fewer bruises though."

"Please," she said, "I see you smiling every time I ambush you. You absolutely love the attention."

"I do love the attention, I'll admit that as well," I said, "I guess there is nothing wrong with me being your priority."

Alice smiled and pulled a small blanket over from the edge of the couch and wrapped it around herself.

"What about you?" she asked.

"What do you mean what about me?" I asked back.

"Do you consider me your priority?" she asked.

"Well," I said getting a bit fl.u.s.tered, "You know, I mean. You're kind of pretty cool I guess. And I do like having you around. Not that I need to have you around, I just like seeing you."

My words were all over the place. With every word, I spoke the expressions on Alice's face would change. The expressions were happy, laughing, embarra.s.sed, she shook her head at one point, but I couldn't stop speaking because I couldn't figure out the right words to end the sentence, so it continued to drag on.

"And it's not like I'm saying that I would be completely unhappy if you weren't here," I continued rambling, completely out of character for me, "I mean there are still things that make me happy, and I would be happy without you here, but like, I'd be happier with you here. I don't think I would be unhappy if you weren't, but I am happy that you are," I took a deep breath, "Wow I am really rambling on here, um. I mean, yes. I do think you are a priority."

Alice laughed and kicked the side of my leg and then retracted her legs back into the blanket.

"Hey!" I said, "No kicking!"

Alice pulled the ribbon out from her hair and it all fell down past her shoulders. She through the ribbon on the floor next to the couch and then crawled her way over to me.

"I'm tired," she said, "And you look like a big fat, warm pillow," she joked. She rested her head down in my lap and then adjusted the blanket to cover all her body as well as my legs.

"Hey, what's that for!" I said.

"It's your new mission!" she said with a stern tone, "Your job is to act as my big fat warm pillow for the next hour while I have a nap!"

"Can you stop calling me a big fat pillow?" I asked.

"Big, Fat, Warm pillow," she said correcting me. She let out a big yawn and closed her eyes.

Remembering when I first met Alice, I would never in a million years have seen her as a romantic partner. Firstly, we were nine years old. There isn't anything remotely attractive about a nine-year-old child. Even after I found out we were both from the future, and that we enjoyed talking with each other and laughing at each other's jokes, she was still just such a kid. Even thinking about it back then would make me cringe because we were in the bodies of children.

As we started to age, I started to forget about that aspect. I was also rarely remembering that I wasn't even in my own body anymore. Our bodies started to change, we started to grow a lot taller. We started to flirt a lot more, completely forgetting about our situation. The number of times I had to tell my self off for thinking horrible thoughts. I would just forget. Forget that we aren't really us. That this is the body of Travis and that is the body of Laura. We both would just forget.

And now she is lying in my lap.

These stupid teenaged hormones are driving me crazy!