Codename: Kryptonite

Epilogue

August 19, 2029

T minus 18 hours

Once upon a time, he'd thought the hardest thing he'd ever had to do was pretend he'd never met her before. The day he'd met his new security detail, he'd been unable to keep the smile off his face. She looked the same as she had the first time he'd laid eyes on her twenty six years ago.

Now, he knew he'd been wrong. The hardest thing he'd ever had to do was send her away, but if he didn't send her back in time, they'd never have the life together that they'd already had. At least he could finally tell her what they had once meant to each other.

The soft knock on the door made him smile. "C'mon in, Gabbs."

She stuck her head in the door. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

He motioned to one of the chairs facing his desk. "Have a seat."

She closed the door softly, then crossed the room to sit across from him, nervously wiping her palms on the front of her dark slacks.

Picking up the journal that lay on the desk in front of him, he stood up, circling around the large oaken desk to sit on the front of it facing her. "I wanted to talk to you privately before you left for this mission."

"Yes, sir." She smiled at him, her eyes twinkling.

"I've known this day was coming for twenty-six years," he told her. He could see the questions in her eyes, and gave her a patient smile. "All questions will be answered before you leave this office. Just be patient." When she nodded, he went on. "You showed up in my life just when I needed you most, and I'm not talking about when you saved my life from the assassin."

As rude as it was to interrupt the President of the United States, one word slipped out of her mouth. "Saved?"

"Yes, past tense," he answered. "See Gabbs, when all of you were sitting there in that room around that conference table telling me what was going to happen, I already knew. You see, Gabbs, I've lived it already. I can even tell you who the assassin is."

"Why didn't you tell us before so we could stop him?" she demanded, leaning forward in her chair.

"And what? Arrest him for a crime he hasn't committed yet, nor will he ever, because you'll be able to stop him?" he chuckled softly. "And stop you from going back and being a part of my life? Never."

"What is that?" she asked suddenly, pointing at the old journal he held in his hands.

"Your old mission log." Her eyes widened. "Yeah, really," he answered the unspoken question. "There's some facts you need to be aware of. First, your old boyfriend, Nate McAnally is the assassin. And the other big fact I want planted in that micro-chip brain of yours is that on an icy day in January, the 14th to be exact, in 2022, don't drive. Stay at home like I asked you to."

"Your wife Monica was killed in a car wreck in 2022," she told him, a stunned expression on her face.

"Monica was the name she chose," he explained patiently. "But, I called her Gabbs until the day she died."

Finally, he could see that it was all finally starting to sink in with her. He could see the wheels turning in her mind, when she said aloud, "Are you saying..."

He interrupted her. "Don't think about it too much, Gabbs. It'll only make your head hurt."