GI JOE Porno Story: Magnus Two Possibilities and Alternatives Chapter Two

“…And
may I introduce the newest member of our staff starting this
semester, the new head of our music department, Doctor Erin
Townsend.”

Later,
Doctor Henry Jones the Fifth, to those that didn’t know the truth,
and Doctor J. Thomas Magnus, both of the History department were
walking down one of the many paths that crisscrossed over Empire
State University.

“Something
wrong, Jack?” Jones finally broke the silence that had been over
the two collegues and friends since the faculty meeting.

“Indy,
you were what? Forty-two when Casablanca came out?” The man who,
in another world, would have been a Major in the United States
Military answered.

“Yeah,
it was only about… four years after the whole thing with the Holy
Grail, why?”

“…Of
all the universities in the whole country, she had to come teach at
this one!” Jack paraphrased Rick from Casablanca before suddenly
spinning and punching a tree hard enough to visibly shake it.

“I
take it you know Dr. Townsend?” Indy asked with a half-grin. He
had gotten used to his much younger friend’s habit of overdoing
things.

“Know
her?” Jack scoffed, “No. It’s worse than that, I used to
date her.”

“Hold
on, Jack, when was this?”

Jack
turned to lean back against the tree, crossed one arm over his chest
and put the other to his head in thought, “Almost five… six
years ago now, I was still a Frontliner when she left me.”

“So,”
Indy leaned against a second tree, “What are you planning to do
about it?”

“‘Do’?
Indy, you’ve known me for four years now, I plan to do what I’ve
always done, have a stiff one and beat some bad guys to pulps, then
thank Heaven that my students are as accepting of my excuses as I am
of their’s.”

Yeah,
Indy thought, that’s what you do always do, “And when that fails
like it always does?

“You’re
gonna be a friend and drag me along with you next time you go off on
one of your adventures if I don’t get sent off on one of mine first,”
Jack answered.

“You
won’t be able to avoid her forever, you do realize.”

“No,”
Jack shook his head, “But I can have our next encounter happen
at a time and place of my own choosing, Henry.”

Jack
chuckled at the look of annoyance on Indy’s face at the use of his
first name.

“You
know I like Indiana.”

“I
also know the DOG’s name was Indiana.”

A
few minutes passed as the two professors enjoyed the silence that
surrounded them during a ‘planning’ period.

“Jack,
was here and now the place and time you were thinking of?”

“Why?”
Jack asked, half asleep.

“Because
she’s headed this way,” Indy nodded down the path at the subject
of their conversation.

Jack’s
eyes popped open and locked on the form of one of the few people in
his life that he truely wished never to see again. Combat-honed
instincts, undulled, if not enhanced by teaching willing students
about the past, ran through several possible scenarios and decided on
the best course of action in a matter of seconds, leading him to
straighten up and start walking into the small woods beside the path.

“See
you, Jack,” Indy shot over his shoulder.

“Only
if you’ve suddenly developed thermal vision,” Jack answered,
running his hands through a quick pattern before disappearing.

Indy
shook his head, “I’ve got to get him to teach me that
invisiblity trick…”

—-

It
could have been so long later that there’s not a name for that length
of time, or so much sooner that there still wasn’t, but we reappeared
in another reality…

Right
on top of me.

“You
know,” came my voice from the empty air under me and Athena,
“All this does is prove that when I say people can drop in
anytime, they take the drop part more literally than the anytime,”
the speaker faded into view, revealing my counterpart in a white
t-shirt and blue jeans.

“If
we ever make it home,” I shook my head, “Not even Skywarp’s
gonna believe this…”

“As
lovely as the lady is, and as fast as I heal, my spine would like to
cordially request for the two of you to get off of it.”

I
rolled off my counterpart and came up to my feet, extending a hand to
help Athena up.

“Don’t
mind me, I’m used to being a doormat,” he commented when Athena
accidently stepped on him.

“Johnnie,
I think he’s a worse smart-ass than you are.”

“Blame
it on four years of teaching college students.”

“You’re
taking this pretty well,” I told him.

“Compared
to a lot of the other stuff I encounter on a regular basis, alternate
reality versions of me are nothing new,” he muttered as he
rolled over onto his back, “Though usually they arrive in the
morning, not the afternoon.”

Let’s
see, an alternate version of himself shows up with his wife and lands
on him and all he does is make a comment about showing up at the
wrong time of day, if I ever needed any proof that he was me, that
was it.

In
the short time we had available, we exchanged stories. Unlike me, he
actually preferred being called Jack. For him, Frontline had never
been instated into the full Joe team, so the non-regular Joe
Frontliners found themselves suddenly civilians again. In any case,
Jack had taken Nick Fury up on an offer to be a full-time SHIELD
Special Agent, which wound up with him as Johnny Freedom, Steve
Rogers as Captain America, and John Walker as the USAgent working
together as a team. The cover Jack wound up with was as a history
professor at ESU, teaching alongside the famous, or is that infamous?
legendary? Doctor Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr… or rather,
his own cover of being his great-grandson… being nearly immortal
does have downsides, it seems…

After
that, we wound up sitting in on one of his history classes, and I’ll
say this, if half of my high school classes were as interesting as
this one college class, I might not have just taken the GED and
gotten it over with.

After
the class filed in and he introduced us as observers, he began his
lesson, “Today, class, we will be studying Eighth Century Japan,
specifically, the clans of ninja, or Shinobi in Japanese, that
reached their peak during this period. Many of you have already heard
of the two largest clans, the Koga and the Iga, but at the same time
there were a number of smaller clans, often more powerful but less
well-known. Among these were the Hokage, who if you believed the
legends possessed the ability to manipulate time itself and create a
‘Flame’, the Arishikage, who believed in adapting oneself to their
surroundings for stealth, and the Naitotsurukusa, who believed the
opposite of the Arishikage, believing in adapting one’s surroundings
to hide themselves…”

One
of the male students did the mocking half-yawn that I remembered from
my own school days, “C’mon, teach, this is boring…”

“He’s
right… These guys are long dead, what can they have to do with
anything?”

Jack
gave a smiling scoff, the kind I always give when I know more than
I’m letting people know, “You’d be surprised, Miss Barnes. Any
of you watch the news? Have you heard of Johnny Freedom?”

I
could see smiles and relaxation go around the room, now the class was
getting interested.

“Who
hasn’t, Professor? He’s one of America’s greatest heroes,” The
first guy answered.

“Did
you know that he once went by the name ‘Captain America’?” It
was true of course, the first time I had worn anything like that it
had been Cap’s own outfit, the Red Skull had Frontline hostage, Cap
was nowhere to be found, and if Captain America didn’t show up, my
men would be killed, so ‘Captain America’ showed up… just, not the
original Captain America…

“Captain
America? Wasn’t he that guy from World War Two that you told us
about?”

“Exactly,
Mr. Jones. He had that name at first to honor the original ‘Red,
White, and Blue Avenger.’ Johnny Freedom fights for freedom today the
same way his predecessor did almost sixty years ago… longer than
you’ve been alive, longer than some of your parents have been alive.”

“Sixty
years? Professor, haven’t we changed any in that time? We had the
Civil Rights Movement, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of
the Soviet Union, isn’t that changing things?” The young woman,
Miss Barnes, asked.

“Unfortunately,
no. We’re fighting religious extremists and terrorists instead of
Nazis and racism is directed towards Arab-Americans instead of
African-Americans, but the battles are the same… Intolerance…
Hatred… Fear… We call Johnny Freedom a superhero because of how
and who he fights, but we sometimes forget that he’s a hero in the
first place because of why he fights. I’m going to tell you all a
story and while I do I want you to think about this: The same
Arab-Americans that get discriminated against, if the extremists and
terrorists won, would most likely be killed as ‘traitors’ for siding
with ‘the Great White Satan.’ While you are all thinking about that,
let me recount a story I heard about one of Johnny Freedom’s first
missions, not long after 9-11…”

“Is
it true?”

“Did
it happen? I don’t know, could it have happened? It could have, I’m
sure… I personally like to think it did…” Jack leaned back
in his chair, changing modes from teacher to storyteller, “There’s
someone for everyone, but Johnny’s only love was his country.
Fighting for her, he didn’t have to prove he was a man. One day while
he was away, the Al Queda decided to attack. They hit important
symbols of his country with planes, three of them.

Johnny
came back as fast as he could, to a country that was crying, the
ruined buildings and shattered hearts were more than he could stand.
He took out a picture of his idol, Captain America, and as his tears
fell on the Captain’s face, he heard these words in his soul:

‘Walk
away from trouble if you can. It won’t mean you’re weak if you turn
the other cheek. I hope you’re old enough to understand: You don’t
have to fight to make a stand.’

The
first troop plane to Afganistan, Johnny was on it, and members of Al
Queda just laughed at him as he walked into one of their strongholds
alone. One of them got up and met him halfway ‘cross the floor. When
Johnny turned around they said, ‘Hey look! Ol’ red, white, and
yellow’s leavin’.’ But you coulda heard a pin drop when Johnny took a
table and blocked the door.

Two
hundred years of freedom was bottled up inside him. And he wasn’t
holdin’ nothin’ back; he let ’em have it all. When Johnny left
Afganistan, not an Al Queda was standin’. He said, ‘This one’s for
Nine-Eleven,’ as he watched the last one fall. And I’ve heard
soldiers say he said,

‘I
promised you, Cap, and I walk away from trouble when I can. Now
please don’t think I’m weak, I didn’t turn the other cheek, and
Captain, I sure hope you understand: Sometimes you gotta fight for
what you stand.'”

In
the space of what seemed like only a few minutes, an hour and a half
had passed, no one, not even me, had even realized it until the bell
rang signalling a change of classes.

“Okay,
since we didn’t get to it today, Tomorrow; Eighth Century
Japan,”After they had filed out moaning, he added to Athena and
me, “That was my last class, guess now would be the best time to
head over to SHIELD Headquarters and talk to Logan.”

“Woah,
woah, woah, woah, woah, I missed something here, why would we need to
talk to Wolverine, and at SHIELD HQ no less?”

He
looked slightly abashed, “I forgot, didn’t I?”

“Forgot
what?”

“Nick…
died two years ago. Strucker sent an LMD of himself after Nick and
even though it didn’t succeed in killing him, he lost control of his
hovercar… he sacrificed himself by manuvering into the East River
instead of crashing into Battery Park. Logan had made his way up to
the SHIELD command staff, and with Dum-Dum retiring when Nick died,
Nick’s Final Orders placed Logan as Director of SHIELD.”

“Damn…”
I whispered, Nick and I had always gotten along pretty well; both of
us being jackasses and all, plus there was the Infinity Formula, so
the thought of him dieing was unsettling.

“No
sense in that,” Athena disagreed, “We’ll be leaving as soon
as the Dimensional Tuner is recharged.”

There
came a knock on the door and a voice that I hated hearing, I had
grown up, but the person that voice belonged to never had, they were
still in the ‘If you want to be MY friend and use MY playhouse, you
have to PAY me all of YOUR savings’ stage after five years.

“J.T.,
are you in there?”

Jack
tapped both Athena and me on the shoulder and pointed, “Out the
window.”

—-

We
didn’t go to SHIELD Headquarters, but to another place with memories
of Nick Fury. In my world, the apartment had belonged to Nick, but
here Nick was dead and he’d left it to my counterpart. It’s still THE
unwritten rule that ‘Once a Joe, Always a Joe’ and that if a Joe or
former Joe is in trouble, they can turn to any other Joe or former
Joe and expect help, all that matters being the membership in one of
the most exclusive clubs in the world…

Which
was why my, or rather Jack’s brother and a team of other heroes were
piled in the apartment when we got there.

“Everyone
this is myself and… what was your codename again, Sergeant?”

“‘Athena,’
Jessica Magnus. Yes, we’re married, two years, I can stand him
because he may be an idiot and a jerk at times but he’s MY idiot and
jerk, no, there’s no chance of ignoring that and going on a date,
Drake, any other questions?”

“Nope,”
the living block of ice that was sitting on the steps answered, “That
about covers it.”

I
shook my head, “Don’t worry, Jack, I know most of them…”

I
began to point at each of them in turn, starting with the one in
black with the red scarf draped over his shoulders, “John Henry
Magnus, formerly known as Havoc, now called The Shadow after his
teacher Lamont Cranston.”

Then
the woman in the yellow jumpsuit standing next to him, “Angelica
Jones, ‘Firestar’, formerly of the X-Men.”

Next
the ice cube, “Robert ‘Bobby’ Drake, ‘Iceman’, also once of the
X-Men.”

The
man in gold and red armor, “Anthony Stark, owner and CEO of
Stark Industries, also his own bodyguard ‘Iron Man'”

Then
the one in jet black armor, “Terrance McGinnis, assistant to
Bruce Wayne of Wayne Enterprises, instead of wearing tights and
calling yourself ‘Batman’ like your boss in the 40’s you wear a
bat-stylized armor based on Iron Man’s and go by Nightwing.”

I
moved on to the injured man in red and blue, “Peter Parker, the
amazing Spider-Man.”

The
last one was a bit of a surprise to me, even though I knew this
wasn’t my world, the woman tending Spidey’s wounds was not Indira
Dimonji like I still expected it to be, “And Silver Sabalovia,
the Silver Sable, assassin and mercenary known for only taking jobs
against criminals and other scum.”

Jack
gave an impressed clapping, “Not bad, only missed two things
with a slight mistake on a third, I’m impressed.”

I
snapped my fingers, “What’d I miss?”

Now
I know why everyone always mutters that I’m insane when I start
laughing, Jack gave me the twitches and I’M HIM.

“Third
mistake, Sable was …exonerated of her ‘crimes.'”

I
nodded, I’d seen, in fact, I’d been a part of that kind of procedure,
“SHIELD Special Agent, now?”

Iceman
chuckled, “Isn’t everybody?”

I
returned the chuckle, “Sometimes it seems like it. So, if that’s
my third mistake, what were my first two?”

“There’s
not a single woman in this room.”

Athena
reached a hand out to Firestar, “Their taste in women is
probably the thing the Magnus boys have most in common here, too,
isn’t it?”

Firestar
smiled and shook hands, “Redheaded…”

“Opinionated.”

“Forceful.”

“Take
no crap.”

Then
the two of them finished what was, in mine and Athena’s world, a
running joke between Athena, our Firestar, and Talon, “And sexy
as hell.”

Smiling
and shaking my head as the two in-a-way sisters-in-law hugged, I
commented, “All the parallel universes in existance, and some
things never change,” I paused, then looked at Sable nursing
Spidey’s wounds, “Of course, for everything that doesn’t,
there’s a LOT that does…”

Spidey
shook his head and winced, “It’s a long story…”

“Always
are,” I joked…

—-

Here,
as I WAS familar with, Peter and Mary Jane Watson never worked out…

Here,
Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime, had arranged a break-in to the
Helicarrier to capture John Hardeski, who was a willing prisoner of
SHIELD instead of a SHIELD Special Agent like I knew.

Felicia
Hardy, Hardeski’s daughter, was turned into a female super-soldier
called the Black Cat here, as well.

However,
that’s where things change.

Hardy
didn’t join SHIELD, she became a superhero, one of the few whose
identities were public… A rare breed, others who tried that… it
didn’t work out. It didn’t here, either. She started a relationship
with Spidey as the Black Cat, but couldn’t have one with Peter as
Felicia because of the danger to people close to him, even though the
two were married in secret – if the Black Cat hung around Spider-Man
and Felicia Hardy was married to Peter Parker, it doesn’t take more
than a two-bit street hood to figure out that Spider-Man and Peter
Parker are one in the same.

Poor
choice of words. That’s how it happened. Hardy went insane, insanely
jealous, one day she and Indy, Indira Dimonji, ‘had words’… in an
alley and a two-bit street hood overheard and relayed the information
to Adrian Toomes, The Vulture, who almost killed Peter’s aunt May
Parker. Spidey nearly killed him, but was stopped by his teammates,
including Silver Sable, hours later he wound up talking to Sable to
clear his head

Hardy,
however, decided to kill the Vulture in his prison cell, thinking
that would help her keep Peter.

While
that was happening, Peter was trying to talk to Indy for advice, but
he couldn’t do it and left her apartment in time to be caught by the
New Invaders who thought he had killed the Vulture

Long
story short, Indy nearly died, Nightwing showed up late and ended up
killing the Black Cat…

Spider-Man
took time to mourn, and almost never worked alone again. It seemed at
times that he didn’t care what happened to him as long as he was lost
in combat. There were quiet moments, as well…

…tender
ones…

…in
which he and the hard-shelled Symkarian exchanged more and more of
their thoughts…

…their
feelings…

…their
affections…

Two
troubled adventurers finding solace and comfort in each other.

—-

I
shook my head, trying to adjust to the differences from what I know,
and unconsciously walked over to Jack’s computer desk, opened a
drawer, and pulled out the canned drink I knew without thinking about
was in there and popped the top.

“Well,
Jack, that proves he’s you; no one else knows where you keep your
beer, if he wasn’t, he’d have gone to the fridge.”

Shadow
was right, of course, when I was younger it was soft drinks, but I’ve
ALWAYS kept at least one drink stuck in the drawer of my computer
desk, it’s habit.

“Anything
else I should know, like is Steve dating Sharon Carter for example?”

Jack
was about to answer when there was a knock on the door and a voice,
“Professor?”

I
expected him to act like he wasn’t home or tell us to hide, but what
he did surprised me, “Come on in, Rikki.”

The
door opened and one of Jack’s students walked in, I recognized her
from earlier as Miss Barnes. She glanced around the room and shook
her head before asking the New Invaders, “What did you all get
into this time?”

Spidey
groaned, “Rhino zigged, I zagged, and zoomed into the wall.”

“You
should be glad Doc Connors knows about Spider-Man, Peter, and that
he, Doc Indy and Jack helped me cover for you, but the other
Professors are starting to wonder.”

Jack
looked at me and chuckled, “Rikki Barnes’ grandmother’s
brother’s name was James Buchanan Barnes.”

That
made it click, “Bucky.”

“Yeah,
and so am I,” Rikki said.

“Rikki
is one of my teammates, as well as one of my students,” Jack
explained, “Along with Captain America, USAgent and Battlestar,
the five of us form a government special missions unit called the
Avengers… Rikki, this

is
me from another time stream and his wife.”

She
nodded, “Hey.”

“So,
what’s the sit?”

“You
know that new teacher in the music department, Dr. Townsend? ..Erin,
I think, or something like that?”

Chuckles
rippled throughout the room as both Jack and myself whirled around
and slammed our fists into the wall, without even meaning to do it
simoultaniously.

“Ok,
I take it that means yes. She learned that I’m in your classes and
asked about you, asked Doc Indy too.”

Jack
snarled and hit the wall with his other fist before fuming, “Who
the hell does she think she is? If she thinks that she can cheat on
me, betray me, and then I’ll take her back, she don’t know Jack
Magnus! I don’t care if it has been years, she can go hifreann leat!”

I
smirked at him dropping into Celtic when he said she could go to
hell, “Freedom…” I stepped over and put a hand on his
shoulder, “I think this is an opportunity, say to make Sharon
and Susan proud?” I grinned.

He
looked up and matched mine with his own, “A ‘Trap’?”

“Double
the Turbo, double the trouble, if you get my meaning.”

“‘It
would be naughty to…'”

“‘It
would be wrong…'”

We
finished together, “‘Let’s do it!'”

We
tapped fists, and Athena added her own, “I’m in. I still owe
that bitch for her attitude when we met in our world.”

“How
does she…?”

“We’re
married, think about it.”

Firestar
looked at Athena and I before commenting, “Jack, if you ever
meet a girl like that, the rest of us are taking a nice vacation;
like a fishing trip to the Sahara desert…”

As
I would find out at a much later date, those words would prove to be
prophetic for them.

—-

In
military terms, it could be called a Double-Feint, making the
opposition think that you’re trying to make them think one thing when
you’ve done something different when in fact you actually did do what
you were supposed to do in the first place. As far as I was
concerned, however, it was going to be the best lesson my
professorial counterpart had ever taught; ‘How do you like me now?’

Which
was why Athena and I were already in position, a table at the back of
Lamont’s, a resturant owned and Head-Chefed by former Sergeant Lamont
Morris, known to some as ‘Heavy Duty’, waiting for the target to be
escorted in. Athena had to borrow something from Firestar’s closet,
leaving her in a pale yellow dress, while Jack and I had both gone
for simpler black slacks and white polo shirts – the two of us had to
match almost exactly for this to work…

I
heard Athena laugh lightly, “The only way he could look any more
disgusted would be if someone was disrespectful to the flag.”

Had
to be Jack and Townsend, but I couldn’t resist responding to Athena’s
comment; I drummed out ‘Danny Deever’ on the table with my fingers.
‘Danny Deever’, for those who don’t know, is what’s played at
executions, the bum-bum ba-da-ba-da-ba bum that the drummers do.

“Okay,
but whose execution is it?” She asked.

“With
any luck, hers. Now let’s enjoy our meals, we’ve got about thirty
until the switch-out.” I commented, picking my fork back up.

—-

Thirty
minutes later, I stepped into the bathroom and locked the door as
Jack turned visible again.

“You’ve
got to teach me that trick.”

“You’ll
learn it yourself anyway… ugh…” he shuddered, “She’s
become even worse…”

—-

(Earlier…)

“I
told you that you should have done this from the beginning instead of
your foolish time wasting in the military.”

It
was all Jack Magnus, Major, patriot, and American could do not to go
ballistic – and as someone who had flown the X-22 Storm Eagle, he
knew ballistics well – with that remark.

“Doctor
Townsend,” he said, refusing to call her by name, “There
was nothing foolish about or wasted serving my country. I would thank
you NOT to insult it or the service around me.”

“I
can say whatever I damn well please about the USA. Just because I
live here doesn’t mean I have to think it’s the greatest damn country
in the entire world. Yeah, America has some things right. But it also
has some things wrong. It’s not perfect, and it’s not ‘unpatriotic’
to point out and critizise its flaws.”

—-

“…If
it wasn’t for the fact that the switch was so close, I wouldn’t have
gone into ‘Silent and Glaring mode’, I would have given her a
dressing down that any Sergeant would be proud of – in public.”

“I
probably would have let you, too. You ready?”

Jack
sighed, “Give me a moment to steady myself. Let’s review. I slip
out invisible, you take my place, at the signal, Jessica comes over
to ruin Townsend’s day… What is the signal anyway?”

“The
classic; one she’ll know.”

“Okay…
Anyway, the signal is made, Jessica ruins Townsend’s day, and,”
he made a gesture with his hands, “She’s off my back, right?”

“That’s
a roge, Major.”

He
patted me on the shoulder twice, “Just remember one thing,
Turbo: Yo, Joe.”

—-

It
was all I could do to keep under control. I’ve NEVER been good with
people running down the country that generations of my family have
fought for, and I’ve gotten even worse about it since I joined those
ranks myself…

I
was learning that Jack had more restraint than me, because I didn’t
just want to put her in her place verbally, I wanted to physically
stuff Townsend in a box and airmail her to Siberia or some place.
Wordlessly, if a bit forcefully, I set my fork down and picked up one
of Lamont’s trademark William-Peter Shis-q-bobs, which any Joe knows
is a fancy way of saying that Heavy Duty still cooks them with White
Phosphorous grenades, and spun it around while taking bites off of
the meat and vegetables.

Everything
returned to balance when Jessica stepped up behind me and rested a
hand on my shoulder, “Ready to go, Johnnie?”

“Excuse
me? May I ask what you are doing with my date?”

“Date,
that’s funny,” Athena slipped into the booth beside me, “Last
time I checked, my husband DIDN’T date tramps on the side.”

“Husband?”

I
grinned and lifted my left hand so the braided ring of white lustrium
could be clearly seen, “Guilty,” I smirked.

Athena
scooted over closer to me, holding up her own matching ring, “I’m
sure you wanted for a long, long time to find a man like mine… But,
you’re too late. So before you go and make your move, maybe me and
you should get a few things straight; there’s two ways we can do
this, and I’ll let you decide, you can take it somewhere else or we
can take it outside.”

“I
don’t believe this.”

“Oh,
believe it,” Athena smirked, “I was lucky, I got to live
every woman’s dream of her knight in shining armor riding in to save
the day, you came close, but unlike you, I was smart enough to enjoy
the feeling instead of complaining that my knight prefered fatigues
to armor and a motorcycle to a horse. You think you’re gonna ruin
what I got, but you’re not,” she leaned forward and looked
Townsend in the eyes, “Now, I’m a Christian, but if you keep it
up… I’m gonna go to kickin’ your pretty little butt. Is that clear
enough?”

“Now
just a minute! I don’t know who you think you are, threatening me,
but-“

I
stood up and let all my lives stand with me… and when you’ve got a
soldier, a hero, a husband, a father, a brother, and a friend
standing together, that creates an impression…

“No,
I don’t know who you think YOU are, but I know I’m not stupid,
DOCTOR. It’s not a hidden fact that I teach at ESU, and the music
program here isn’t exactly one of the best in the country, so it’s
fairly obvious WHY you came here, so don’t act so holier-than-thou
because you committed a major clusterfuck: You’re here because you’ve
deluded yourself into thinking I’ll take you back, well, fairy tale’s
over, WELCOME TO REAL LIFE. I’m a happily married man, I served my
country proudly and was honorably discharged upon completion of my
duties, I’m teaching young men and women that history is important to
the future, and I’m not unhappy with any of it… It’s 2007,
Townsend, not 2002, and if I could change anything about the past…
I never would have dated you in the first place.”

If
I could have, I would have gotten a picture of her expression when I
finished my statement… It was indiscribable, and I enjoyed it. I
enjoyed that I was getting to put her in her place again… or
rather, I was enjoying her finding out that when she had pushed me
away someone else had stepped up to stand by my side again. In it’s
own way, this time doing it for Jack was actually better than when it
had happened for myself… Certainly Townsend was taking it a lot
worse, which made it that much better for me.

Lamont’s
had gone silent, everyone looking our way, even the waiters had
stopped what they were doing to watch.

I
extended my hand to Jessica and she took it and stood up.

“You
know, mo leannan,” I said to her, said, not whispered. I didn’t
care if anyone heard at the moment, “For the first time in a
long time, I’ve lost my appeitite… Let’s get the hell out of here.”

We
slipped out of the booth and the whole restaruant – lacking one –
burst into applause.

—-

Two
weeks later, Jack sat in another staff meeting, but he had a
suspicion why this one was called…

“Ladies
and gentlemen, as you know, Doctor Townsend’s last day here is
tomorrow, so I’d like everyone to give her a big farewell when she
leaves…”