Between Then & Now // Hugh Jackman

19 // First Dates

Freshly brewed coffee wafted throughout the kitchen. Its aroma was dark and rich. Exactly how I knew Hugh liked it. He'd be here soon, but for now, I sat at the dining table with Alana. Today was quieter, more reflective, after everything that had happened yesterday.

She stared at her cup of coffee. Her fingers traced the rim of her mug as little swirls of smoke rose off the hot liquid into the air. She looked lost in thought, probably still thinking about everything I had told her. It was a lot to take in. 

Then, she broke the silence, her eyes coming up to meet mine, searching for something. Maybe clarification? Or, to rehash it? This wasn't exactly a topic you talked about once and then got over it, especially not when it had been purely fictional up until I showed her that time travel was, in fact, real.

"You're really from 2024?" Alana asked, uncertain still.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but it's the truth."

She sighed, glancing back down at her coffee. "Who am I to you, Kinsley? How do you know all this stuff about what happens to me?"

I could give her a surface level answer, tell her I found out through research, which would be true, but after coming clean, lying to her just felt wrong.

"You're my aunt," I get out after some hesitation.

Alana's gaze snapped up to me. Her brows furrowed. "I'm your...aunt?"

I couldn't imagine how strange it must be for her to hear it. It was strange for me when I realized it, but it was simpler for me to accept after having jumped through time to get here.

"So, your mom is...," she trailed off with a dawning expression, "my sister, Astrid?"

I smiled sympathetically at her. "Yeah."

"That's why you were so out of it when she came," she paused, letting that sink in. "It's weird thinking about it, because when you met me, you didn't recognize me at all, did you?"

The question struck a cord. I had explained what would happen to her, but perhaps that hadn't been enough as I had rushed it all out. I was afraid, worried, she would make a mistake she'd never be able to take back.

I took a deep breath, the weight of what I would say pressed down on me.

"Because I never got to know you. Our family cut you off because you just disappeared without so much as a goodbye."

Alana's face fell. "Right. You said something about that yesterday."

I felt a lump in my throat as I continued, "You used the watch to time travel, but you left it behind. You must've got stuck, because you never come back."

She stared at me with teary eyes, trying to reel it all in. Her fingers tightened around her mug. 

"It doesn't have to be that way," I said in reassurance. "Now that you know, you can change that. Don't use the watch."

Managing a small smile, she bobbed her head. "You're right."

A knock at the door interrupted our conversation. It didn't take much to know who it was. Hugh had said he'd come by in the morning after I had left to come back to Alan's apartment.

Last night, she told me the only reason she had shown up at Hugh's was because I had never come back, so she went to him for help, not knowing that was where I had been the whole time.

Alana stood to open the door, and I followed close behind. Hugh grinned brightly at her as she swung it inward, but when he saw me, his face lit up even more.