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 Wie soll man sich denn bei der Folge für ein Bild entscheiden? CROWLEY ist großartig, wie er im eigenen Saft schmort, ABADDON + DEAN sind sexy, und SAM mit blauen Angel-Eyes … are so many Feelings! 
Jennifer drove the car into the garage after she got home from work. Her day had gone quite well and she felt good about the work she had done but she really looked forward to getting home to Jonathan, who had only been released from the hospital a few weeks ago. It was good to have him back.
As she opened the door leading into the house from the garage she smelled something sweet coming from the kitchen.
“Hey, welcome home.”, Jonathan said when he saw her. He was putting a cheesecake on the table but… it looked like it was the 4th one. There were 4 cheesecakes on the table.
“Uhm hey… so you’ve been baking I see? Nice.”
“Yeah well, I really wanted cheesecake and I couldn’t decide which one to make and I was bored anyway so I just made all of them… I’ve got lemon cheesecake, salted caramel cheesecake, white chocolate cheesecake and Oreo cheesecake.” he proudly explained.
Jennifer chuckled. “I can see that.”
The cakes looked delicious, Jonathan was a good baker. She just wasn’t sure if 4 weren’t too many.
“Who is going to eat all that?”, she asked him.
“Don’t worry about that. It’s not a problem at all.”
She smiled. “Okay, just don’t complain about tummy ache later. And now give me some.”
…
Jennifer almost ran all the way back, down the street and she finally reached her house.
She pulled the keys out of her pocket and for a moment she was scared that they wouldn’t fit again but she had checked the mailbox and saw her name, Jonathan’s name and Anne’s name on it. She was home, this was her house and she opened the front door.
She was greeted immediately by Lyra, one of their cats. She had missed the cats so she picked up Lyra and gave her some cuddles when she heard someone in the kitchen.
It was Jonathan and she was so happy to see him that she didn’t even know what to say or do.
“Hey, we decided to come back early, the conference was completely pointless. Where have you been?”
Jennifer put down the cat. “I just took a very long walk.”, she said as she almost ran towards him and pulled him into a tight hug. “I was afraid I’d never see you again…” Jennifer told him not letting go of the hug. She just needed to feel him and his warmth and love.
“Why? It was just a conference…”
“It’s a long story and I’m going to tell you all about it later.”
After a few minutes she finally let go. “I love you and I missed you so much.” , she said which made Jonathan give her a worried look.
“How about I make you breakfast? Would you like some pancakes?”, he asked.
“That would be amazing.”
…
The End…
The sun was slowly rising as Jennifer and the alternate universe’s version of Jonathan walked through the woods again, hoping this time the portal would open up again. The conditions were the same as the morning Jennifer crossed over, the time was right, everything seemed to be the same, the light of the raising sun, the light morning mist, the noises, even the temperature.
Jonathan was quiet. Jennifer knew that this whole experience must have been gotten to him, too. He heard about an alternate reality where his brother was still alive, where he was married and had quite the successful career. He didn’t seem happy, there was an underlying sadness in everything he said and did. Like his life was missing something. She hoped that she didn’t make him feel even worse.
“What are you going to do once this is over?”, she asked him.
“I don’t know…go on with my life, I guess.”
“As if nothing happened?”
“What else am I supposed to do?”
Jennifer smiled. “You could get a cat. Or… I don’t know, maybe try to find alternate me somewhere.”
“Huh. I never thought about that. Maybe…”
“Well, whatever you decide to do, I hope you find happiness.”
“Thank you.”
They continued to walk for a few minutes until they reached the place again and this time Jennifer saw the flickering of the mysterious light again. She was relieved and didn’t want to consider the possibility that she could cross over into an entirely different alternate reality, after all there was an infinite number. No, this brought her here, it had to bring her back, it just had to.
Jonathan’s scientific curiosity made him examine this place but apparently he couldn’t really find anything unusual.
“I can’t explain this. Where did this come from? Why is it here?”
“I don’t know, I’m not sure I want to. All I know is that I’m going in there and this will take me home.”
She took a deep breath and was ready to go. “We’re probably never going to see each other again. Not like this.. So, thank you for your help and fare well. I hope you’ll find what you’re missing.”, Jennifer said to him, not sure if this was the right thing to say.
“Well, we’ll see. It nice meeting you. Good bye.”
Jennifer started walking towards the light.
“Oh wait. Please tell my alternate self something… tell him not to trust them… he will know what that means when the time comes…”
Jennifer was confused, what could be be talking about? But she just agreed to do it and stepped into the lights…
Part 6
The apartment was big for one person and crammed with books. It reminded Jennifer a little bit of where she and Jonathan used to live before they bought the house. It was tidy and clean and it seemed comfortable. This place missed a cat though, Jennifer thought, he should get a cat.
There was a large framed picture of a beautiful mountain lake on the living room wall, probably a place somewhere in Canada.
Jennifer stepped towards the window. “You’ve got a nice view.”, she said looking at the trees with the ocean in the distance.
Jonathan came into the living room with two mugs in his hands and handed one to Jennifer. “Here’s your tea. The view was one of the reasons that … we…chose this apartment.”
Jennifer could tell he still wasn’t over the break up but she was sure that he would be eventually.
Both sat down on the couch. Jennifer wanted to tell him so many things about his other self, about her Jonathan but at the same time she knew it was probably not the best idea. They were quietly drinking their tea for a while until Jonathan broke the silence.
“So… do you know what your alternate version here is up to?”
Jennifer remembered the one single Facebook profile she found earlier.
“I couldn’t find out much but it looks like she’s a doctor somewhere in Germany. She probably didn’t have a reason to come back to Canada since she didn’t meet you there. She’s single, probably too busy for a relationship. That’s all I know. I would like to learn more about her but… I also just want to go back home.”
“We’ll get you home somehow. I mean, you came here so there must be a way back, and we’ll find it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“You must be tired, I think we should turn in and go back to the place in the woods first thing in the morning.”
Jennifer agreed. She was exhausted and it’s been a long day, she needed some sleep.
Jonathan gave her a pillow and a blanket so she could sleep on the couch, he also brought her one of his flannel shirts to wear for the night and said she’d wake her up in time.
So now she was lying on the couch in the dark in a strange apartment trying to fall asleep.
But her mind was racing trying to process everything that had happened and worrying what would happen if she never could go back. What would she do? She didn’t even exist in this reality, her alternate version existed but she didn’t. Would she just change her identity and get a job somewhere, was that possible? She pictured all kinds of scenarios. No. She would get home, she had made plans, right? She’d see her husband tomorrow and never go into the woods again.
She noticed that the shirt she was wearing smelt like her Jonathan, both of them had the same scent. It made her feel warm and safe and after what felt like hours she finally fell asleep…
Jennifer walked along the path through the woods that was so familiar but she was not alone this time. She had met up with Jonathan after he had finished work and they decided it would be the best thing to just go back to the place where she crossed over, to that mysterious light.
He was walking next to her but they haven’t been talking a lot, he was very quiet.
“Tell me about him.”, he finally said breaking the silence.
“About who?”
“Your husband. The other me. What’s he like?”
“Well… he’s a wonderful husband, for one. He’s fun, smart, kind. He bakes when he’s stressed.”, Jennifer answered, she didn’t really know what he wanted to know exactly.
“How did you two meet?”
She smiled as she remembered that day. “We were 14 and I was in Vancouver as an exchange student for half a year. Thomas was friends with the daughter of my host family and one day he introduced me to his weird little twin brother. And that’s how it all started.”
“Huh, so since Thomas was… gone… we never met, I assume. It’s interesting to think about. I wonder… would you have met if he had never been kidnapped?”
“I don’t know. Maybe not. What about you? Have you ever been married or thought about getting married?”
“Well… not really, I don’t know. I just broke up with someone a few months ago. We had been together a long time but… turns out he cheated on me for years and I never noticed anything. So he moved out and I haven’t seen him since.”
“If you don’t mind me asking… what was his name? Was it Gary?”
Jonathan looked at her. “Yes. How did you know?”
“Let’s just say that Gary came into my husband’s life, too. We were young, they had a thing. Anyway, it ended with Gary leaving town and that was it.”
She shrugged.
“Oh wait, this is the place.”, Jennifer said as they reached where the portal was. “I recognize the crooked dead tree over there.”
They walked to the spot but there was nothing, no light effects. It looked as if nothing had ever happened.
Jonathan took out some measuring devices and examined everything but after a while he found nothing. “It’s just a normal place in the forest, I’m sorry. There’s nothing here that indicates anything is out of the ordinary.”
“Great, now what? I need to get home.”, Jennifer started to lose all hope.
“Maybe the conditions aren’t right, you said it was early morning and the sun was rising. It’s the evening now so maybe we could try it again in the morning. It’s just an idea but… don’t give up yet.”, he said.
Jennifer sighed. It was worth a try and what else was she supposed to do? The only way to get back was to find the portal and step through it again.
“Alright, what choice do I have? But…”
“What?”
“I don’t have a place to stay and no money for a hotel room… could I sleep at your place?”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea…”
“Please. I don’t need much, just a blanket and a couch, I won’t be in your way.”
He took a few seconds to answer. “Okay. Let’s go. But only if we can stop for dinner somewhere before we go home. I’d kill for a salmon burger right now…”
Jennifer chuckled and looked at him in disbelief. “You eat fish?”
…
Jennifer chose a seat that overlooked the entire cafeteria so that she wouldn’t miss him. If he showed up at all. He didn’t say an exact time and she just sat there for a few hours waiting, thinking, watching people come and go and drinking coffee.
What if he couldn’t even help her? What if nobody could help her and she was stuck in this universe forever? She didn’t even want to entertain this thought. Of course she would get back home to her own world, see her husband again and give him the biggest hug. And then they would go out for dinner and spend a nice evening at the beach.
Making these plans made her feel a little better.
Another 20 minutes later he entered the cafeteria, alone. He seemed insecure and the way he walked was different, subdued, trying not attract any attention. When he saw her he seemed surprised to actually see her there but approached her table nonetheless.
“Hello. I guess if you waited this long then it really must be important?”
“Please sit down.”, Jennifer requested. He sat down on the chair opposite of her.
“I don’t even know who you are…”
Jennifer tried to think of the best way to answer this. She couldn’t just start with “Hey, I’m your wife from another universe” Would he even believe her? She never really thought of that. He had to actually believe her crazy story. This got more complicated by the minute.
“Well, my name is Jennifer Ryan.”
“Nice to meet you. Apparently you already know my name.”
“I might know a little bit more than your name.” Jennifer looked at his hands, the wedding ring was missing, so weird to see. She looked back at her own wedding ring as if she was scared it wasn’t there. But it was still on her finger.
This universe’s Jonathan MacLean looked puzzled. She still hadn’t told him what exactly she wanted, hopefully he wouldn’t get impatient and just leave so she decided to just get to the point.”
“Okay, this may sound crazy and weird and impossible but… this morning something happened and I ended up in an alternate reality, this reality. Nothing is right, strangers live in my house, my phone isn’t working, this place is different, you are different…”
“An alternate reality? Are you sure you didn’t just have a bad dream? You’re right this sounds crazy…”
“I just want to get back home and you’re the only one I could think of who may be able to help.”
“Why me?”
“You’re a physicist, right? Seems like this would be right up your alley…”
“I’m not a good scientist, I’m nobody, I don’t even like my job…” Jonathan paused. “How do you even know me?”
Jennifer took a deep breath. “In my reality… we’re married.”
“To each other? Really? This entire thing really hard to believe and you know that.”
“Yes, I know. But how can I make you believe me.. and help me? I realize that I have absolutely no proof and there is no reason you should believe me but… I promise I’m telling the truth.” Jennifer knew this wouldn’t be easy but her hope started to fade, she tried very hard to fight the tears.
There was a minute of silence.
“If you really know me, then you should be able to tell me something only I would know.” Jonathan finally suggested.
“Well… I don’t know if you’re exactly the same. I already noticed a lot of differences.” Jennifer tried to think of something. There was something in her husband’s past that he couldn’t really talk about so maybe the same thing had happened here, too? She didn’t want to bring it but she had to.
“When you were a little child you were kidnapped and held captive for years.”
He glared at her. Did she hit a nerve? Was it too much?
“Actually… I wasn’t. My brother was. But only a few people know about this.”
“What?” Jennifer realized something. This must be what went differently. The other brother was taken and it had changed everything, at least the life that she knew.
“If you’re telling the truth… then it means that I was the one who was kidnapped in your reality…and my brother is still alive?”, his talked in a quiet almost shaking voice, this seemed to be getting to him.
“Yes, someone found you… him… after several years and he was able to escape. So Thomas didn’t, I mean your Thomas.?”
“No… he was never found, not even a body, just nothing…”
He looked at her with sadness in his eyes and then stood up.
“Alright… I will see what I can do for you, if you don’t m ind waiting till I’m off.”
Jennifer smiled. “No, I’ll wait.”
Jonathan walked towards the today. “Thank you.”, she said to him, hoping he would hear her. He turned around and gave her a sad smile then walked out the door…
The institute looked the same, the hallways were familiar and she knew where Jonathan’s lab was, at least in her world. Should would just ask someone.
People glanced at her as she walked along the corridor, like they knew she wasn’t supposed to be here, not just because she was from an alternate reality but also because she walked into a research facility just like that without permission. She knew how to get in and apparently some things in this world were still the same.
As Jennifer entered the lab it looked very different though. It also looked busier and the people looked stressed. Nobody seemed to pay attention to her, they were too preoccupied with their work so she was able to look around. Some faces were familiar, most of them weren’t.
And then she saw them at the very back of the lab. Glenn was wearing a lab coat and looked angry, Jonathan looked… kind of nervous. She wanted till Glenn went into the lounge room and then she approached Jonathan. It felt so strange to her and she wasn’t even sure what to say to him. Did he not know her at all or had they met before? Maybe They had hated each other when they first met, maybe they had broken up. Whatever it was she would probably find out soon.
She took two steps towards him, but he didn’t notice her.
“Dr. MacLean?”, she said.
He looked up. “Uhm… not a doctor…”, he shyly replied and gave her a quick nervous smile. “What are you doing here? You don’t work for Dr. O’Brien.”
“No, I don’t work here but I need to talk to you about something very important. I need your help with something.”
Jonathan looked puzzled. “My help? Why? I don’t even know you.”
Jennifer heard some fast steps behind her. “Hey, MacLean! No chatting, get to work!”, Glenn yelled.
“I.. I’m working, sir..”, Jonathan replied. He turned to Jennifer and almost whispered. “Look, if you need something then we can talk in my lunch break, I’ll be in the cafeteria, okay?”
And then he left…
to be continued…
The library was not very crowded and she could easily find a computer she could use.
After the house owners chased her away she just walked downtown. Luckily it was a small town so it didn’t take her too long. Their name was Dewitt and they had lived in that house for decades. They were not very amused by her visit and the things she had said.
Jennifer sighed. So what happened? Why was her house occupied by strangers? She had watched a lot of Star Trek and as a science fiction author herself she was not unfamiliar with the concept of alternate realities and this must be one. It was the only explanation she could come up with that made any sense. But how realistic was it? A physicist would probably know more and there was one she knew very well. Was he a scientist in this reality though? And did he even know her? What else was different? So many questions and that’s why she came to the library, the internet must know more.
Out of curiosity she entered her own name into the search engine, she just wanted to know what her alternate self was up to. What she found was… not much. Not even her books were mentioned anywhere, not her practice, nothing. All she found was an old Facebook profile with a handful of pictures of her and her parents. The place of work mentioned some small hospital somewhere in Germany that she had never heard of. AU Jennifer Ryan was probably leading a quiet boring life. She wondered what had gone differently.
Next she searched for her husband’s name and hesitated for a second. What if he didn’t exist or wasn’t alive? Did she really want to know?
Jennifer decided she had to know and she had to find him because she wanted to go back home as soon as possible. If it was possible at all.
The search results revealed that he was indeed alive. She was relieved. It turned out he even worked at the same research institute in Portland. Good. At least something. She had to go to the institute and hope he was there and that he was willing to help.
She closed the browser, left the library and spent some of her last cash on a bus ticket…
to be continued…
Jennifer loved early morning walks. The world was just waking up, people were starting their days and it was still quiet while the sun was slowly rising filing the world with light.
She breathed in the cool air and closed her eyes.
“I should take the forest route today”, she thought to herself. The beach was amazing at this time of day but something in her was attracted by the forest this time. There was just something about it that day. Maybe it was the lighting which was beautiful with the sun beams illuminating the morning mist.
She turned left into the little forest. She’s been here before but it felt different this time though she couldn’t exactly tell why.
As she walked along the path she listened to the birds singing and the wind in the leaves but after a few minutes she was lost in thought.
Jonathan was in Boston for the weekend and would return tomorrow morning. Some physics convention that he, Glenn and Anne went to. Meaning Jennifer was all alone till Sunday. It was a stressful week so she was thankful for some peace and quiet on the weekend but she still missed her husband. She had last seen him on Friday morning before she went to work and they hardly had time for a proper good bye but he didn’t really want to go either, it was some sort of obligatory thing that they couldn’t refuse. According the his text messages last night he and the others weren’t enjoying it very much.
However it was she couldn’t change it now so she tried to make the best of it.
Jennifer walked for about 20 minutes down the path till she noticed something in the distance to her right. Something was glimmering almost like a reflection of light on a surface and it was moving, shaking a little.
She looked around and there was nobody there so she decided to check it out and left the path to walk towards the glimmer. It took her a few minutes and as she reached the place she thought was the source there wasn’t anything that could have caused it. Not a shard of glass or a puddle of water, the light seemed to be coming out of nowhere.
The wind got a little stronger and the temperature fell and then she noticed that she couldn’t hear a sound. The birds were gone, she couldn’t hear the wind in the trees and her steps on the leaves were silent and then everything around her was a very bright flash of light, almost blinding and when she opened her eyes again it was gone. The sounds were back as if nothing had happened.
“What was that?”, she almost whispered. Jennifer was fascinated and scared at the same time and decided to go home. Maybe she was just too tired or the light of the rising sun was playing a trick on her mind, it was probably a very simple explanation but she just wanted to get back home, drink some coffee and watch TV to take her mind off of all this.
On her way back home she felt a buzz in her pocket. It was her phone, maybe a message from Jonathan she hoped. But when she looked at the display it just said “no service” which was strange. Could be a problem with the carrier.
She put it back and talked back to her house as fast as she could, took her keys out of her pocket and tried to unlock the front door.
She tried again and again but the key did not fit, she couldn’t get it in. “Oh come on.”, she exclaimed. But to no avail. She took a step back, checked to see if she had accidentally tried to enter the wrong house for some reason but it was the correct number, 2401.
Suddenly she heard steps inside and the door burst open to reveal an angry looking man with gray hair and a beard. “What the hell are you doing trying to break into my house?! You better go before I call the police!”
“Uhm… I’m sorry…I didn’t… this is my house. Why are you here? Who are you?”, she managed to ask. Her heart was beating faster and she was terrified. This couldn’t be, what was going on?
…
(to be continued*)
*tomorrow probably
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