Jassandra One Shots

Postcards from the Road

Another old AU What if.  This one asks what if Mabel Collins had lived? Well, her life and the postcards she sends Jacob Stone change his life in ways he never imagined. Trust me, this is ultimately Jassandra. Everyone gets a happy ending.

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Their plans had succeeded and the people of Collins Falls that had been trapped for a hundred years out of phase were now free. Collins Falls had several new rather overwhelmed residents. And the unfortunate Victor Finch was now on his way home, confused but convinced that he'd suffered a bump on the head in the woods and that there were no aliens after all.

Jenkins had made arrangements to accompany Mabel to New York City where a trusted and discreet doctor would be able to remove her ground and allow her to live a normal life. Norman, now out of the phase and full reunited with his lady love, was very apologetic about his attitude and making plans to lead the newly freed townspeople into the 21st century. They'd all caught glimpses of the last 100 years, but only Mabel had fully lived it.

Stone and Mabel were walking in the woods near where the rogue light post had been. They both knew this was goodbye but it was difficult quite saying the words.

"So," Stone asked, "what's next for you?"

She smiled, "it's amazing actually having an option for a next. I only have a regular human lifespan now, but Jenkins thinks my body will start at 30 with the aging, so I have a good chunk of living left to do. I will probably have some recovery time after the surgery and I want to help Norman for a little while, but after that . . . ."

"There's Paris?" Stone asked with a chuckle.

"Yes," she turned to face him, noticing they were no longer walking. "This is goodbye, isn't it? I have your address, but I won't see you again, will I?"

Stone didn't reply, but the look on his face was all she needed. She smiled softly, "well, I always wanted to kiss a handsome stranger. I didn't think that would happen here in this town. And I can live with that, Jacob, as long as you make me one promise."

"Yeah?"

"You don't just travel for work. You find your time and you go out there and see the world you've only read about."

He nodded. "That I can promise. And you do the same, alright? You go out and make your stories real. You," he grinned, "kiss more handsome strangers."

"I'll do that," she moved closer to him and he moved a hand onto her cheek. "Au revoir, monsieur."

He softly kissed her and then pulled back, their foreheads touching. "Au revoir, ma'am."

They slowly broke apart as they could hear someone coming down the trail. By the time Cassandra came into view, they were standing a respectable distance apart. Mabel looked between Stone and Cassandra, a contemplative look on her face.

Cassandra blushed a little. "I'm sorry, Baird's ready to go back and she sent me to look for you. If you still wanna say goodbye, I'll just . . . ."

Mabel shook her head. "We already did. It's time for you to leave. Thank you so much, Cassandra. What you and your friends did for us . . . there's no way to fully thank you."

Cassandra blushed again, ducked her head. "All of you having a good life, that's thanks enough for me, for us. Maybe not Ezekiel."

Stone actually laughed, but Mabel didn't quite get it. Cassandra gave her a hug but Stone just nodded at her. They'd already said what they needed to. He fell into step with Cassandra going back up the hill and Mabel could hear Cassandra apologizing for the way she acted. She couldn't hear Stone's reply but she noticed he never once looked back.