Ethan

Though unintentional, Rachel came to know the truth. She got hold of the card which Ethan retained in his coat pocket. While he didn't mean for any of this to happen, he was glad that she finally knew about the future. It felt like a weight was lifted off his chest. The weight of telling her the truth.

Although it took time for him to process how to tell her about the bleak future, she was patient with him all the while, never rushed or forced him to speak before he had the time to recuperate. She was understanding even about the parts that now to her knowledge, happened in the future.

Ethan traveled into the past to ensure that she didn't retrace her steps towards Marc, he was too late to amend it. All he could hope was somehow, with the knowledge that Rachel possessed, she'd take a different step and hopefully the future from where he traveled wouldn't happen.

'But was it possible? Will Rachel follow a different path or will she repeat everything all over?' His head hammered with those thoughts. He couldn't bear to lose her again. She is his everything and losing her once itself took a toll on him.

Ethan had travelled through times lines. He had seen history repeating itself. Although in reality, he only lost her once; the pain of knowing that all timelines behaved the same, that he lose her in all of them too was incomprehensible for hi mind and heart. He knew his inability to hold onto himself any longer if that happened again.

Unable to sleep, he twisted and tossed on the bed. Rachel was sleeping next to him peacefully. Her eyes flutter, dreaming. Knowing that she was still following the same path broke his heart. While she slept calm and peaceful, he felt a pang in his chest knowing what was instore for her.

~~

Plates clattered in the kitchen. Walking up, Ethan sit on bed, dazed. The warmth of the sunlight made him feel numb, knowing that the incident wasn't a dream but a reality. Some part of him wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up from this. But that was not how life worked. Isn't it?

Pushing off the bed, he walked into the kitchen where Rachel stood, whipping batter. She didn't realize his presence for continuing to sway to the music with her headphones plugged in. Ethan sat on the opposite counter, watching her move around, humming. Over these years, he had the privilege of watching her do this a lot of times but it never ceased to charm him.

What surprised him was her enthusiasm. Anyone else would have had problems waking up, knowing the future was bleak for them. But Rachel seemed to possess an extra vigor. She turns around, noticed him watching. Placing her phone off the counter, she walked towards him and cuddled, placing soft kisses.

Ethan's surprised expressions froze. He even considered the previous night as a bad dream, he experienced. Pinching, he realized the pain and the reality. Rachel saw his act. She smiled, walking back to the pan and poured the batter.

"This isn't a dream, if you are wondering. You are as awake as the day.."

Ohh yes! It was clear as the day when she confirmed. "I was just.."

He didn't even know what he wanted to say. Ethan was the last person who intended to be the reason for bringing Rachel's enthusiasm down. He decided to remain quiet. She, on the other hand, seemed to have noticed what he was about to ask. "You must be thinking why I am all happy and excited while I should be sulking in a corner."

He nodded but corrected his stance, "Technically not sulk. But any reaction where you would act like what I told you yesterday hit you hard, would be a good enough reaction."

Rachel turned and placed the plate on the table. Gesturing him to join, he obediently walked and sat opposite to her. Digging into his food, he waited for her to reveal the elixir she took to act calmly. She dipped her fork for a bite before saying, "You see, I thought about what you said a lot yesterday."

Digging a morsel, Ethan waited patiently for her to end the mystery. Rachel kept her calm while inside Ethan, a storm brew. "Then I realized, it's the future. The future can always change."

With hooked eyebrows, Ethan watched and listened attentively. "What do you mean?"

"Well, didn't you tell me about Miley telling you about her affair, in a lot of ways?"

He thought back to all those times he'd travelled back to meet Rachel, all resulting in different timelines. "Sorry to tell you this baby, but.." he hesitated. She was on an idea high and he didn't want to bring her down. Still, knowing there was nobody else to do it, Ethan embarked upon the mission. If she was being delirious about the future, this was a good time to grab her back to reality. "All those times lines, the end result was the same."

She gulps her juice, quickly nodding. "Yes.. but in how many those timelines did you tell me about my death? Or missing or whatever.." As her thoughts seemed to make a little more sense, Ethan leaned onto the table, listening to her more attentively.

She dug her fork in for yet another bite of the pancake, ending his extended patience. Placing her fork on the side, he gestured her to talk. She smiled, knowing he wanted to know her thoughts without any interruptions. "Okay. So you have never told me about me going missing at all. Right?"

He nodded, yet again. It felt as if Rachel was playing the same sentence on repeat.

"And now, I know how the future can change.."

Finally, she got onto the point. "How?"

She grabbed her juice glass and gulped down some more content. Rachel had all the time in the world to play suspense, yet she choose this moment for it. 

 "Baby focus." Ethan's hands held her face to pay attention to me. She nodded again. He even wondered if she was enjoying this, her way of extracting revenge.

Her focused voice shattered his thoughts. "You never told me and it all happened. It kept happening. Now that I know what happens, we will change it."

"Change it how?"

Pulling up, she grabbed a brown, run down diary from the counter. Opening it to the bookmark, she moved tattered pages around, placing them as if she was summoning the devil. She pointed and ran her digits through all the questions and tabulations she drew to make her understand what to do to avoid the future, the present attached to it too.

To top it all up, she had marked in bold and underlined 'avoiding current future plans' some ten times. Ethan looked at it and back at her. Rachel's eyes sparkled with a new hope. Somewhere, her zest bought him the needed determination to change the timeline. The one which would hurt him in the future.

"What do we do?" his determined voice questioned

"We need to ensure that the most important events don't happen."

"Which is?"

She placed the dairy in front of him, turning the page to important events. While he read, dilating his pupils to see what was scribbled all over the cream colored pages, she dictated it for more clarity. Ethan could hardly make a head or tail of her writing. Rachel had a tendency of scribbling things faster when she was excited. This would be the pinnacle of her excitement.

"Well the major ones are me leaving the job, you dating floozies and Marc dying.." her voice pitched lower on the last one. He knew that she already had feelings for Marc. Ethan never thought to be the one to accept it, but he understood that she truly loves Marc. His love evolved to be the selfless one. The one where we was happy in her happiness, content in hers, even if it was with someone else.

Snapping back, he continued, "First fine, because you have to handle that.. But what about the second? I know you still don't know the present me that well.."

She hummed, tapping the pen to her jaw. "Yes. And I will do something about that too."

Ethan's bridged eyebrow and pursed lips begged the answer for, 'How?'

"Leave that to me.."

"What about the third?" he questioned. She sat back in front of him, holding his hand.

"That's where I need your help.." With his head bob, permitting her to continue, she said, "You are the only one who knows what, where and the when of it.."

"I don't know baby. I wasn't that close to them after leaving the company. Heck, I didn't even keep in touch with the gang.."

With hands in the air, she pleaded, "Find it out Baby." She held his face and he couldn't help but be lost in her beautiful hazel eyes. He was willing to go above and beyond for her. But this time, he was fighting against time to keep her alive.

"Sure I can do that.."

"All we need to know is how it happens with Marc and the last piece of the puzzle is solved." Ethan sat back and watched as Rachel jotted points in her diary. Her plan gave him hope. It eased him. 

Hopefully this wouldn't be the timeline where he lose her again. Hopefully this would be the timeline when he finally gets his happily ever after with her. The one he dreamt of every night since her departure. 

Hopefully..

////\\\\

Hello babies..

Do you think their plan would be successful? Will Ethan have his happily ever after?