Just Don't Die

Go With the Flow

As Blaine drove away from the meeting with Adam, he made a mental checklist of what he knew and didn't know. He knew that he had recognized Adam, but only his young version and it was from his teenage memories that the recognition came from. Blaine believed that Adam was truly surprised when he told him his father was going to die, which meant that this reality was not set in stone or some fated destiny. He couldn't be sure, but Blaine could have sworn he heard him say his future wife's name. Blaine and Kalvin had talked about the possibility of him saying "Anne" or, more possibly, "Belle." However, the timeline in which Adam explained everything, Annabelle, would make more logical sense. They hadn't even met until quite a few years after 2011.

Blaine tried to think about possibilities outside of his known past. He never would have married Melanie. She left him when he needed her the most. She left him because of the word of a guy who wanted nothing more than to get in her pants.

Albeit, according to Adam, he was in the Army Special Forces in another reality. Perhaps that alone caused Dom to fear him so much that he wouldn't attempt to go after his girlfriend. That didn't make complete sense either, though. Dom has always been too self-centered to be concerned with consequences. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to think that if Adam had felt fine changing specific critical points in Blaine's life, he very well could have instigated Dom to ruin Blaine's relationship with Melanie. The thought that Dom may have only been a pawn for Adam as opposed to just a selfish asshole was troublesome. He had spent over two decades harboring hate for Dom; any change in perspective could mean Blaine was wrong, and while he was OK with being proved wrong, he just wasn't ready to admit that he let that much undeserved hate take up so much of his life.

Blaine's train of thought started to slide to his more immediate goals. The first option would be to disregard Adam's threats and play private investigator on him. See if he could figure out whether he had been manipulating Blaine's life until he sent him back in time. That would likely invoke the immediate wrath of a guy who not only knew Blaine very well but also had a wealth of knowledge and memories beyond what should be humanly possible, backed by unimaginable fortunes. The guy was one of the best-trained soldiers in the world, combined with an intelligence capable of conquering time travel. There were no real pros to this path, only cons in every possible way.

The second path was simple. Live the life he always wished he had. Maybe the vision he saw was the alternate reality he would be creating now. He could change the things he wanted and leave everything else the same. Kalvin told him he had a couple million dollars, with over a million in gold and silver, Amazon and Apple stocks, and more set aside for Google. He said he was supposed to wait until the end of the year to cash out some of the stocks that theoretically would gain him another five million. Kalvin gave Blaine a significant amount of money to invest however he would like. He told him he was only passing along the favor, and as Kalvin had more money now than he ever imagined, with more on the way, he wouldn't miss that minuscule amount. Blaine could not find a single con to this path, and the pros were innumerable.

Blaine decided he needed someone without a bias to help him gain a different perspective. He knew he could always bounce ideas off her, and she didn't live too far from Kalvin's.

After awkwardly talking to her mother, Blaine convinced her to get coffee with him.

"Thanks for coming," Blaine started, unsure what he should ask her.

"Of course. What's this all about?"

"Well," he started, his mind beginning to spin the lie he would tell her, "I just inherited a large sum of money," he paused and waited to gauge her reaction.

"I don't mean to sound callous, but who died?" She asked, with a suspicious eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, I guess inherited was the wrong word. I have some family in Europe, and they needed to unload some funds. I think they wrote it off as a tax credit or something."

"Ohh," Lex said, a tone of recognition in her voice, "Is that the reason you changed?"

"What change?" Blaine asked, honestly curious as to what she had seen.

"It's been subtle, but you have been acting weird for the last few days. I didn't say anything because it wasn't anything specific. You just seemed... distant."

"Distant?"

"Yeah, like, well, it's hard to explain, but it's been harder for me to talk to you. The way you talk has changed, too. You normally have some sarcastic quip in response to people, and you still have that; it just feels different. It must be because of this 'inheritance.'" She said as she smiled.

"Well, I apologize if I have been hard to talk to. I will try to remedy that."

"See, right there. You aren't that understanding. You don't use words like 'remedy' in that context," Lex started laughing as she said it.

"Well, regardless, what would you do if you suddenly had a bunch of money?"

"Regardless? Who says that? I mean, lots of people say irregardless, even though it's wrong. No one says it correctly," Lex said, her laughter making her snort a little.

"Really? This is how you're going to be?" Blaine said, cocking his head to the side.

"No, no, I can manage. But, just so you know, I don't believe this whole change is just because of some money." Lex said as her giggling faded.

"So?" He egged.

"Well, I would move out and get a nice place to live. Nice enough for all of us to hang out. Depending on how much money, I would set up a scholarship so the group could all go to college for free. Maybe take everyone to backpack Chile or Europe. Then just set everyone up for life."

Blaine had not even thought of that. Lex was the only person in the group he still talked to in his old life. While most of the group had reconnected in and after college, Blaine wasn't a part of that. He had joined the Army, found other friends, and moved on. He had always looked at their reconnection and thought it was sad that they never moved on from high school. They had lived within miles of each other for most of their adult lives. From this perspective, maybe Blaine was the one that was missing out. What would be different if they never lost the connection to begin with?

Blaine would eventually have enough money to do pretty much whatever he wanted. He agreed that he would need to find a place of his own, but helping out anyone in the group, aside from Lex, had never crossed his mind.

"That's not a terrible idea. Get everyone squared away so they can get whatever job they want?"

"Like that right there. You have never said 'squared away' in your life. That is a term my mom uses. She said she picked it up from the Army. I'll figure it out sooner or later."

Without thinking, Blaine said, "Not a chance in the world. But, back to what you said before, would anyone in the group truly appreciate the 'scholarship' if they didn't do anything to earn it?"

"Did you do anything to earn it?"

"True," Blaine said, contemplating her point. He hadn't done anything to earn the money or a second chance. Did he even really appreciate it? "It is an interesting idea, at least."

"Well, at the very least," she said with a sober tone and a wink. "coffee is on you, right?"

"Of course. Do me one favor, though: don't tell anyone about my 'inheritance.' Not yet, at least."

"I don't see what difference it makes; everyone knows about Josh, and nobody cares."

"True, but please let it be for a little while."

"Fine," Lex said, finishing her coffee, "but can I have a car?"

"Sure, what kind?" Blaine said, smiling.

"Anything, as long as it runs."

"Done. Hope you wanted Yugo".

"I don't know what that is, but as long as it runs."