Voyager Valentine

Roy Johnson was walking the streets of Nashville. He was alone on Valentine's day, and feeling under the weather. The girl he had left in the future, Samantha, had cheated on him before he left. Sometimes he thought about her and what went wrong, but that always bummed him out. He kicked at a small stone and sent it jumping down the sidewalk. His hands were in his pockets and his face was downturned, so he didn't notice the woman running at him, her face pale and her breaths rapid.

Veronica Meyers was also alone on Valentine's day. She had just gotten off of work at the record store where she was paid minimum wage. She had worked all day, and she was ready to open a bottle of wine and watch reruns with her cat. She stepped out of the record store and started the four block trip home. As she walked, she heard something behind her. She turned her head, and saw a truck speeding rapidly down the street. The man in the bed of the truck was holding a hunting rifle and taking aim at pedestrians. She started running for her life.

Roy wasn't knocked down by the woman hitting him, but he was startled.

"What's the matter ma'am?"

Veronica answered, out of breath,

"Truck...gun...this way!"

Roy looked up sharply and saw the pickup hurtling toward them. He shoved Veronica behind him as the maniac in the bed fired a round at them. The bullet hit Roy in the chest, but crumpled upon impact. He hoped Veronica wouldn't notice he had just been shot.

He turned and saw her gaping at him.

"He-He shot you! But that's impossible, you're not bleeding!"

"Yeah, about that..."

Roy smiled apologetically as he put his arm around her waist and flew up to a nearby rooftop. He set Veronica down as she gaped even wider and stared at him.

"My name's Roy Johnson. What's yours?"

"V-Veronica. Veronica Meyers."

"Nice to meet you Veronica. Look, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell anybody about what just happened. I like to keep my secret identity a secret."

She stared for a moment more.

"Cross my heart!"

"So, um, goodnight. Happy Valentine's!"

Roy stepped off the side of the building and flew up into the sky. Veronica looked around, and saw that the building she was on was her apartment. She looked up and Roy was gone. She sighed and walked toward the stairs leading down into the building. She finally meets a nice guy, and then he flies away. What were the odds? She opened the door to the stairs, but then;

"Um, I was just wondering if you had plans tonight."

Veronica jumped a little and turned around. Roy was hovering above the rooftop, silently gliding toward her.

"N-No, I was just going to watch a movie with my cat.", She brushed a strand of dark hair behind her ear, and looked at Roy, "How about you? Girlfriend? Wife?"

"'Fraid not. I do have a question for you though. Do you like Zeppelin?"

"John Bonham is my favorite drummer of all time, no contest."

Roy's eyes lit up.

"That settles it then. Follow up question, would you have any interest in seeing a Zeppelin concert with me?"

"Like a cover band?"

"A cover band? Oh no, I'm talkin' the real thing."

"But...how?"

"Take my hand."

Veronica slowly grasped Roy's hand and felt a tingling sensation in her arm that spread to the rest of her body. Roy rolled up his sleeve to reveal the time gauntlet that the World had come to associate with the time travelling sensation, The Voyager.

Veronica gasped, "You're Voyager? But how, I mean everyone sees you in St. Louis all the time! What are you doing here?"

"Let's just say it's a long commute."

Roy punched in a pair of coordinates and a date, February 3rd, 1975. Suddenly, a hole opened up in the sky and Roy picked Veronica up in his arms and carried her up and into the portal.

She saw colors and heard sounds that she had never experienced. She saw events unfolding that had happened when she was growing up, and things before she had come into existence.

Roy dropped down through the roof of the arena with the girl in his arms, and flew to a nearby corner, where there was a sitting space. He sat her down and said,

"I'll be back in a jif!"

He flew out of a window and was gone. She brushed the hair out of her face again, and tried to shake off the dizzy feeling she had. Soon, she had recovered and was looking at the crowd that was assembled to see Led Zeppelin perform. She couldn't believe that she was in 1975, however she was excited, and she thought that she liked Roy. He was kind, and thoughtful, and, if she was being honest, he was kind of cute too. But then there was the fact that he was a Meta. Metas had killed thousands of people and caused fortunes on property damage. And if she was involved with him, there was always the possibility that he wouldn't come back from a mission. He'd been close to death before, and it had been covered by the news every time. As she was thinking, she felt a gust of wind from the window, and saw Roy flying in with a picnic basket, candles, and a blanket.

"Sorry that took so long, but I think this'll do. The food and wine are from Italy, so I think you'll like it."

He set the blanket down and Veronica scooted over so he could spread it and set up the picnic. He lit the candles with a match, and sat against the wall, indicating with a gesture of his hand that she should look inside the basket. She opened the wicker enclosure and found plates of pasta, with a large baguette and a bottle of Gaja Barbaresco, and a box filled with cannolis. He grinned at her amazement, and helped her set up the plates. He produced two glasses from the basket, and poured the wine.

They settled in as the lights dimmed, and the crowd went wild. Veronica screamed as the band walked onstage, and Roy looked at her with a smile and a hint of sadness.

He really liked her, however his job always came first. And if any of his enemies were to find out who he was, they would hurt her. It had happened before to his friends, and he couldn't stand to lose more people in his life.

As they ate their food and drank their wine, they talked loudly, because of the music, and found they had quite a lot in common. Roy's bar was near her apartment, and she attended it regularly, although she had only seen Roy a couple of times, which he said was probably his "other job" getting in the way.

As the concert ended, the crowd was shouting for an encore and Roy and Veronica were shouting with them. The band came out and did one last song, then the show was over. Roy stood up and offered his hand to Veronica. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed the reverse button on his gauntlet and they were back in the present in Nashville, on top of Veronica's building. He let go of her, and she stood on shaking legs, looking up at him. She smiled and blushed a little. Roy grinned too.

"I had a great time with you tonight. Maybe...we could do it again sometime?"

"I think that maybe we can. Would you like to walk me to my room?"

"I would love to."

They walked down the stairs into the building, and down the fifth floor hallway to her room. She unlocked the door and turned to him, biting her lip.

"Wanna come inside?"

Roy smiled, took her hand, and followed her inside.

"Hold on."

Roy took off the tie he had been wearing and put it on the doorknob. He shut the door, and, for the sake of our hero, we'll let him have this moment alone.

The End