PP&F - Ben & Anna

[~ ADMIN]

Anna had been so jazzed the past few days, finally, she could use her hands again, and apart from some slight discolouring of her fists still, they looked half decent; she didn't need to hide them away under bandages any more. But also, there was Ben. Ben. Just thinking about him made her head spin. She was dizzy and in love, and although this was completely out of character for her, she was enjoying it.

Of course, she hid it from the rest of the crew. They didn't need to see their chief tactical officer skipping giddily down the hall like a little girl who'd just got a brand new barbie, they wouldn't be able to take her seriously. But when she was with Ben, she just let go. There was no need to conduct herself in any particular manner. She could be as teasing, foolish, and giggly as she wanted to be, and he just laughed along with her.

And if they happened to end up kissing, well...

Anna knew that Ben had some training booked for this afternoon, and seeing as work was sufficiently slow - there were no missions to plan with them being out in space - she decided to join him. If anyone asked, she could fob it off as part of her own training, getting back in shape after a couple of weeks of not being allowed anywhere near the gym at all.

When she arrived, she saw that the gym was empty, apart from Ben who was standing on the mats facing a training simulation, his arms tensed and pulled into a defensive position. She managed to tear her eyes away from his muscles, and slip inside the room, standing far enough away from the area so that she didn't get in the way, but close enough to watch.

"How does training with the computer compare to training with me?" she asked innocently, looking at him with a smile.

[karen2]

Work in tactical had been exceedingly slow as of late, and the only thing that had sped things up even the slightest bit had been when Anna had come back. After confessing how they felt for one another, Ben and her had been spending far more time together than they had before, with all the previous perks still included--they'd even managed to ravage another supply closet.

But as for work itself, there wasn't much to do anymore besides paperwork, and that was something that Ben had never had been fond of. And so instead he would often sneak off to to the gym to go a round or two with the synthesized training-program. It wasn't technically work, but if anyone asked he'd lie and say he was keeping in top shape so he'd be ready for any missions that came up.

Today, however, he'd managed to plan a session in the gym while he was off duty. That meant he could go for a little longer than usual and really get into it. Maybe he'd actually win this time, too. It wasn't like he was bad at brawling, it was just that to force himself to get better he almost always set the machine to it's highest setting to make it the most of a challenge.

Ben had only been at it for half an hour--and in that thirty minutes had managed to lose to a computer twice already--when he heard a familiar voice from behind him. Startled a little, he only just managed to dodge a blow from the computer and roll over to the control pad to shut it down. Turning, he shook his head in amusement at the red-headed woman standing just in the shadows.

"Well, I won't deny it, training with you is far more entertaining," he joked, snatching up his towel before wandering over to where Anna stood. Smirking at her, he added, "Maybe it has to do with the fact that when I go a round with you, I can actually win."

[~ ADMIN]

Anna let out a laugh when he jumped and did his sideways roll over to the control console - she hadn't meant to startle him, but it'd had amusing consequences, so she didn't feel guilty. She rarely saw him move that fast, unless, of course, she was tempting him with the touch of her lips, backing into a private place, then he moved pretty damn fast. People were probably beginning to wonder who the supply closet bandits were on board.

"The key word in that sentence being can," she said, "it doesn't necessarily mean you do." She cocked her head to the side and smiled up at him as he drew closer, towel in hand. "Maybe you'd stand more of a chance against the computer if you didn't set the level to near impossible," she said, "or maybe, whoever programmed that machine has it in for you." Chances were Will had something to do with it's creation and/or programming, and those two weren't exactly best friends.

He'd been sweating enough so that his shirt was clinging to his body; she could see the well defined contours of his abs through the material. Her hands yearned to reach out and touch, but she kept them to herself for the moment. Taking the towel from his hands, she ran the edge down the centre of his face, tickling his nose with a grin, before placing it around the back of his neck, tugging him a little closer. She couldn't help herself.

About to reach in for a kiss, pushing up on her toes, she noticed something over his left shoulder. Her eyebrows pulled together into a frown, and she placed a hand against his chest to steady herself. "What the...?" Her eyes went wide as the wall of the gym flickered in and out of view before eventually being replaced with an image... an moving one, like a projector image was being cast against the wall.

The image was like something being filmed through a camera. It zoomed in and out again on a wooden decking, before panning round and up and focusing in on a mirror. Anna gasped when she saw who's reflection was there. It was her own. She looked maybe a little older than she was now, wearing the most gorgeous white lace wedding gown she'd ever seen in her life. Her hair was pulled back out of her face, which was made up so elegantly, she looked stunning.

But, what was this? Was this some sort of joke? Had she fallen asleep and not realised it? Casting a glance at Ben, he looked gobsmacked. There could have been several reasons why.

[karen2]

"But if I didn't set it that high, I'd never stay in shape," Ben joked, "I mean, after all, we would want this"--he patted his taut stomach--"getting flabby, now would we? That would be far from attractive." He watched in amusement as Anna's eyes scanned his abdomen, and he was about to ask her jokingly if she wanted him to take his shirt off when she took his towel from his hand.

His nose twitched when she tickled it and he chortled a little, grinning as she used the piece of terrycloth to pull his face towards hers. Before their lips met Anna froze, staring passed him, and Ben turned his head to the side to see what she was looking at. The wall was flickering. Instinctively he wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her a little bit behind him.

The image that appeared next made him blink hard a couple of times, and he shook his head a little to see if he was hallucinating. Apparently not. But, how could Anna be standing in front of him, dressed stunningly in white, and be next to him at the same time? He looked from one of her to the other and back again several times before settling on the Anna next to him with questioning eyes.

"Do you know what--" but before he could finish his sentence he saw something thing that made him catch his breath. Marie came into view, wearing a gold bridesmaid dress and carrying a large bouquet which she handed to Anna. If she were there, then did that mean... was he the groom?

"What the hell is going on?" Ben hissed, glancing down at the Anna next to him again and praying she'd have some idea as to how this could possibly be happening.

[~ ADMIN]

"You know how much aesthetics please me," she said with a sarcastic smile, poking her tongue out at him. She was a complete wind up merchant, but then, so was he. They could be absolutely terrible together sometimes, bantering back and forth, getting the one up on each other verbally, but she enjoyed it thoroughly, which is why she kept it up.

She saw Ben do a double take as the image unfolded before them, his arm tight around her waist in a protective manner. To be honest, she had about as much of a clue over what was going on as he did. It wasn't possible for her to be standing here in flesh and blood, but to also be standing there as well, preparing to get married. Her next question had been, but to who? But before she'd been able to vocalise the question, she was given an answer.

Anna remembered Marie from the photo that Ben had shown her a few days ago. She'd thought that she'd looked gorgeous in her casual clothes, but in that gold dress... she rivalled how beautiful Anna looked in her wedding dress. Anna barely recognised herself. The Anna in front of her looked so happy, and so slim, and so wonderfully perfect, like nothing she could ever have imagined.

"I-I don't know," she stammered, trying to get a grip on the situation. Slowly, the gym faded away completely around them, the whole scene coming into view. They were standing out on the deck of a grand beach house on the coast. Anna could see sky scrapers and mountains off in the distance, and it looked familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite place where they were.

Holding onto Ben, she turned slowly to look down onto the beach and the water. People were sitting in two rows leading down to the water front. Anna could recognise people in the congregation, people from the Venia like Will and Natalie, Ally and Luke. Then, standing near the water with Joel at his side, was Ben, looking as handsome as ever in a tux, breathing and bopping nervously as he waited for the ceremony to start.

"Wow," Anna said, blinking, "I... uh..." her brain stalled, and she desperately tried to grapple at any coherent thoughts. Clearing her throat, she shook her head. A thought had crossed her mind, but it didn't make any sense, it couldn't even be possible, could it? "Is this... is this the, uh, the future?"

Anna in the wedding dress and Marie both turned to look at them, which made Anna tense, her eyes going wide. Then wedding dress Anna said one simple word. "Yes."

[karen2]

It took him a moment, but as the gym faded to be replaced with the image of a beautiful beach house Ben realized that he knew exactly where they were. It was hard for him not to, considering he'd spent about twenty years of his life by this beach. But, how had they suddenly come to be in Vancouver BC back on Earth? More importantly, why were there two of each of them?

It was then that Anna asked a question that made everything make more sense. The future. He hadn't even thought of that. So they ended up sticking together in the end? In the end. If they were back on Earth, getting married, did that mean that the Venia had succeeded in it's mission? Had they stopped R4?

Before he could voice any of these thoughts, the Anna in white spoke, answering the other version of herself. "You can hear us?" he said redundantly, glancing from one Anna to the other briefly before looking over at the other version of himself. This was just too weird. "Okay... so, if this is the future... um... what are we doing here? Why aren't we back in our own time?"

[~ ADMIN]

Anna truly hadn't expected her future self to turn round and answer her question; this was getting more and more bizarre. But at least one thing had been explained, they were in the future, but they still didn't know how far into the future, or where they were exactly. Although, when Anna cast a glance at Ben, she could have swore she saw him relax slightly when he looked out across the view. Did he know?

"You're not really here," Future Anna said. She'd known this moment had been coming for two years now, back when it had happened to her, "your ship is close to a black hole, right? Well, the black hole is distorting time, allowing you to view parts of your past and future."

Anna blinked, "wow." She looked over at Future Ben before looking back at her Ben. "Well, I suppose having two of you around is nothing to complain about," she said, attempting to make a joke. It wasn't like this was exactly a terrible thing, just odd. "Where are we exactly?" she asked, "and how far in our future is this?" She didn't even begin to think that they were holding up their own wedding to chat with her future self and Marie. Marie!

"Oh!" Anna said suddenly, sticking out her hand, coming off as a complete goof, "it's nice to meet you. Sort of," she attempted a smile at Marie, trying not to kick herself for looking like a complete idiot in front of Ben's sister.

[karen2]

Future Anna seemed far more relaxed about this than Ben would be in her situation, not seeming to care that her clone was standing mere feet away, or that her soon-to-be--his mind stuttered a little over the word--husband's clone was standing next to her. Or that the both of them were holding up their own wedding ceremony.

Apparently, she remembered this from when it had happened to her, because she explained what was going on easily and without hesitation. So that black-hole had something to do with this, did it? Well, it made sense. Black-holes were supposed to bend time and space, but usually only if you went into them. Who knew that just drifting outside of one was enough? Then again, science had never been his best subject.

Anna--the one next to him--was the first to respond to her doppelganger's explanation, and her remark made him snort a little. "And another question, how are we going to get back? Unless you've got a black-hole leashed in the garage or something..." Quite abruptly his Anna lurched forward to grasp his rather bemused-looking sister's hand.

Marie let out a small giggle, her eyes sparkling with repressed laughter at Anna's enthusiasm. "It seems odd to say it's nice to meet you when I've known you for a few years now," she chuckled, shaking the younger red-head's hand. "You'll be meeting me back in your time during your next shore leave, I think."

Ben glanced over at the other version of himself, who was beginning to look a little panicked as he turned to mumble something to Joel. Knowing... well, himself, he'd probably forgotten about the black-hole and was wondering if Anna had come to her senses and made a break for it. Chuckling a little, he turned back to the women next to him and looked at the Anna in white.

"As fascinating as this conversation is, maybe we should take it up later. You know, let you make your big appearance and all--preferably before I have a full-out heart attack in there. I'd really rather my death remain a mystery."

[~ ADMIN]

Future Anna smiled at their questions, "well, as for the first two questions I'll leave them as a surprise even though I know you'll hate it," she said, knowing full well that waiting all that time to find out how Ben was going to propose etc. had practically killed her, "but the third, I believe the door to the gym is still around here somewhere, if you look hard enough."

Anna scowled at her future self for being mysterious and mean in the full knowledge that she would indeed hate waiting to know something like that. She'd prod Ben later about the place, she could get it out of him, she was sure. And the time... well, they didn't look that much older than they were now. All of this was making her really curious. They'd only just talked the other day about making sure they were ready before they took things further, and, well, they were taking this pretty seriously if they were getting married.

She wanted to plant her face in her hand, but Marie took her silly introduction in good grace. "Next shore leave?" Well, it was good to know that they were getting one at some point. "I promise not to be that ridiculous next time," she said, although, Marie wouldn't know about that promise until a few years after they'd actually met... wow, that was confusing. "Well, the first time."

Ben piped up next to her and she snorted, "whoops! Yes, go!" She never thought she would ever usher herself off to her own wedding. As Future Anna smiled at them, she didn't need to tell them to stay back here before they set everyone else off in a panic, Marie took her place in front of her, and they both set off, a version of the wedding march began to play on a harp nearby.

Anna looked round at Ben, not quite sure what to say to all this, so instead she took his hand and tried to keep an odd look off her face. Her stomach was doing somersaults, she didn't know about Ben's, or Future Anna's... or Future Ben's for that matter. Part of her wanted to watch the ceremony, but another part said that they should leave it as a surprise.

"Ummm," she said out loud, "well, that was... interesting..." Hello understatement. "What are we going to do now?" she cast a glance over at the ceremony. Future Anna was halfway down the aisle now, and the nervous look that had been present on Future Ben's face before had been totally washed away, and replaced with a broad and happy smile. Anna smiled.

[karen2]

It hadn't really registered until the Future Anna turned to walk down the aisle, but Ben found that he was actually looking forward to this moment in the future. Knowing that one day he'd end up marrying Anna, the woman he loved, put a smile on his face that he didn't bother trying to hide. Who would have thought that he'd end up settling down and getting married? He certainly hadn't.

However, after taking care of his sister since his parents' deaths, he knew that he definitely wanted to have a family of his own one day--not that he'd broach that subject with Anna for a long time yet. But knowing it was possible was pleasing, to say the least. And judging by the fact that Will was there, maybe the two of them managed to work things out?

Ben snorted a little at the thought. They'd probably be on speaking terms, at least, but it was far more likely that Will was there for Anna--well, either that or Natalie had come up with some sort of inventive threat so as to get him to cooperate.

Shaking his head a little, Ben let his Anna take his hand and lead him away. It had to be unhealthy how fast he switched from happy to uncomfortable when he glanced at her face, and he suddenly noted how awkward learning that they were going to get married was, especially at this point in their relationship. They'd only just confessed their love to one another, and had agreed not to go further than that until they were ready. Well, clearly, they'd gone further.

At Anna's voice he blinked and looked at her again. "Yeah... interesting..." Not quite the word I'd been thinking of, but it words. When she asked what they should do next, Ben shrugged a little and followed her eyes back to the scene that was playing out mere yards away. "I guess we should try to find the gym door, eh? Should be around here somewhere..."

He glanced around at the familiar house--it was Joel and Marie's new place, he recognized it now from the pictures Marie had included in her email--before pointing at a white door set between two windows that wasn't supposed to be there. "I'll bet that that's it."

[~ ADMIN]

Anna couldn't help surveying the scene, figuring out which side was for the bride, and which was for the groom. Ally was on her side, looking stunning, as always, with Luke, and Natalie was there too, most likely with Will, who was standing at the end of the aisle waiting for Anna. It seemed Anna and Will must have kept up the sibling like teasing over the years if he was here for her, and apparently giving her away.

There was one thing that was glaringly obvious through all this... where was her family? She knew that she didn't have the best relationship with them, if at all, but her parents had always dutifully attended ceremonies for her in the past. Her Dad should have been the one walking her down the aisle. Were they not around any more? Or had things got worse between them. Oh dear.

Her face fell a little, and unfortunately, the smile seemed to face from Ben's face too. She knew it was still early days as far as their relationship was concerned, but it really was comforting to see that they had a future together. She loved him like no other, this was exactly what she wanted for them at some point. She should be happy. Not saying things like well, isn't this interesting.

"Yeah, we should," she agreed, seeing that he seemed to be more familiar with this place than she was. Again, she had to remember to ask later where this was. "Let's trust your instincts," she said, "and if we end up getting lost, then I can just blame you." She smiled up at him, trying to restore some joviality by joking a little.

Once they were safely through the door and back in the corridor on the Venia, the image faded from behind them and completely disappeared, leaving the gym back in one piece. It was a completely surreal experience, and yet... it left Anna feeling mostly warm inside. She wasn't quite sure how to articulate her feelings out loud about what happened.

Instead, she reached up and wrapped her arms tightly around Ben, burying her head against his neck, saying, "I love you," with a smile on her face. She was pretty sure that in the future, two other words were emerging from her mouth. "I do."