As he slowed and then stopped, I found my own orgasm winding down. My lungs ached for oxygen I swear I no longer needed. Tony was better than air. He collapsed behind me, pulling the condom off as he softened and quickly tying it in a knot. I watched him throw it toward the wastebasket and miss.
"Hey! You could play for the Orlando Magic!" I said, a grin on my face.
"Who?" he asked, still breathing hard.
Oh yeah, they're not around yet, I thought. I struggled to think of a basketball team that had been around back then. "Nevermind, just make sure that makes it into the trash. I can't go messing up my aunt's place like this!"
He smiled, then gave me a little kiss. I closed my eyes as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me in tight. I only had a few hours left, but I could afford a couple more minutes to just revel in his touch...
Chapter 10
June 9, 1990
For the second time
"You can't go," I said, trying to remain calm. I was sitting on the bed while Tony packed his bag.
He sighed, standing up from stuffing his duffel bag. "We've had this discussion already, Ladybug. I have to go."
I bit the inside of my cheek. I was starting to get frustrated. "But what if you didn't? We could go anywhere. We could be together."
Tony let his bag lean against the wall. He faced me, his eyes dark and serious. "I don't want to have this conversation again. I have to go back. Besides, I'll see you when I get back."
"But you aren't coming back!" I clapped my hands over my mouth. I hadn't intended on revealing that I was from the future. I had thought about it for a good chunk of the morning and couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation that wouldn't make me sound insane. I was trying desperately to figure out how to convince him to just come with me, to run away with me, but it wasn't working.
"What do you mean, I’m not coming back? How do you know that?" Tony's brows came together, and somehow his dark eyes grew darker. The only thing I was succeeding at was making him angry.
"I just know, okay?" I stammered. "Please, don't go."
Tony took a step toward me. "Do you know what not going back would do?"
I shook my head slightly. I knew we would need to leave the United States to escape his military duty, but that didn't seem like such a big deal when the other option was his death.
"In addition to deserting my friends, I would be considered AWOL. Once I've been AWOL long enough, they'll call me a deserter. A traitor. If I'm in the States, they'll put me in jail. Best case scenario, I'd be dishonorably discharged." He turned back to his bag, frustration filling his voice. "Do you know how hard it is to get a job with a dishonorable discharge? I don't exactly have a lot of skills. The military is my life, like it or not. And you're asking me to put my entire future in jeopardy because you have a bad feeling?"
"It's more than just a bad feeling..."
"This isn't like asking me to quit my job. This is asking me to abandon the only people who care about me. Dean and Matt are my brothers. I won't leave them to go off without me," he stated flatly. He stared at his mostly-packed bag. "Believe me, I want to stay with you as much as you do, but I'm not going to say this again, Kimberly. I'm leaving."
I choked back tears. I was desperate to find a way to make him stay. If I told him I was from the future, he would just think I was crazy. I wracked my brain to come up with some event that would convince that I knew what would happen, but it had been twenty years since this moment. Even without my memory fading, the weather had been exactly as forecasted, there were no strange delays, no one said or did anything strange, and there was nothing memorable in the news. For once in my life, I wished that there had been a horrible earthquake or tsunami that I could predict, but there wasn't.
In all the times I had dreamed of coming back to this day, I had never considered how hard it would be. How do you convince someone that you're from the future without sounding completely crazy?
"I had this dream... and-" I tried, saying the only thing I could think of. Tony raised his hand as though he were stopping my words in the air.
"Kimberly, stop," he said. He looked at me with sad eyes. I recognized the look. He thought I was crazy. "I'm going, and that's final. If you want to keep on with this, then don't bother coming with me to the airport."
His shoulders slumped as he turned to pick up his bag. He lifted it onto his back like it was weightless, stepping out of the room and walking to the car. I was speechless. I just sat there as I heard him stomp through the house.
I had failed. More than failed. He thought I was psycho now.
I heard the front door slam. Tears ran down my face. How could I have messed this up so badly? I had failed. I had failed and ruined what had been a beautiful last day. He was leaving, and any more attempts were going to just make him angrier with me.
Failure hung heavy on my shoulders. I wished I could just walk into the ocean and drown. I had been given the gift of a chance, and I had blown it. Tony was going to die, and I was going to have to experience the loss again. It would be even worse this time because I would know it was coming. I wiped my eyes, trying to figure out how to ask Matt and Dean to watch out for him and not sound even more crazy.
"Oh, Fountain," I whimpered, trying to keep my sobs in check despite my heart wanting to explode. "How do I fix this?"
I covered my face with my hands, unable to stop the sobs from escaping. Tears leaked between my fingers, as I buried myself in the pillow. I had failed.
Chapter 11
Unknown Time
I don't know how long I cried, but at some point I became aware that things had changed. I sat up and wiped my cheeks. The condo was gone. Mist was all around me. Behind me I could hear the soft whispers of the fountain as it flowed.
"It didn't work," I sobbed, turning to look up at Diana. A soft sadness crossed her face as she knelt beside me.
"I must apologize. I had a feeling that date was not the day to go back to, but you were so sure of yourself." She wiped her soft hand across my cheek, catching my tears.
I looked up at her, expecting more. When she didn't say anything, I began to fall even deeper into despair. "So that's it?"
Her look was maternal, as if teaching me a harsh lesson. "That is it. You did not save him. He still died on the same day. Though your fight caused him to write you less before he left, the memory of the days and nights you spent together convinced him that you were the girl of his dreams. He intended to marry you, and he died loving you no less than in your original timeline."