Cell Block Tango

[Jack Ryder]

"And out of the mothers... you were my favorite too. Even if I'm older." Jack winked his eye. "Take care of dad. Jason..." he reached into his pocket and tossed him a key. "Have your big brother Jason take you out for ice cream in my convertible. C'mon luv... wait until you see the Pod now." he gestured and the two of them left the living room and arrived on the roof of the building. Two dozen agents and his father were waiting for them.

"Not letting you get off this roof Jackson." Nick said over the sounds of the sky cycles around him. "Give it up son."

"No." Jack gestured and the pod decloaked above them, looking about as large as three city blocks. "My little pod is growing." he said as it locked on tractor beams onto the sky cycles. "JR... two to beam up." he nodded his head. "Good bye dad. We'll come back if we're needed and we're good and ready but... for everyone's sake... don't come after us."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

Kinsey stumbled slightly as they emerged onto the roof. The psionic blockers barely registered and the thoughts of the entire city slammed into Kinsey’s mind. She grabbed a hold of Jack to steady herself and just before they beamed away she sent Nick the memory of her time with Ophelia. Maybe he’d understand. Maybe he wouldn’t. She didn’t expect him to forgive her either way.

[Nick Ryder]

Nick stood there and just stared at Kinsey. "Let... let them go. For now." he looked up and saw Jack's pod which had grown massively since he last saw it and wondered if that was the true nature of that Siofran Pod, "Wow..."

"Yeah... wrap the ape brain around that." Jack said as he saluted him. "You can do it too... evolve."

Jack and Kinsey were beamed up to the Pod which disappeared in a blink of an eye. He tried to reach out with the Iljuna to track them, but they were already out of the system. "Huh... yeah... ape brains." Nick muttered. "Haven't heard that line since Admiral Drexler..." he sat on the edge of the building and dangled his feet over the edge.

"Sir... orders?" one of the agents asked.

"Let them go... we don't have anything that can match that." Nick replied and sighed. "Last one down buys the round." he said and pushed himself off the edge of the building and dropped off the side.

"MISTER PRESIDENT!" one of the agents shouted.

"Relax... he does that all the time... now quick gawking and move, I ain't payin for those lush agents..." the other agent said and took off running.

Meanwhile --

Jack sat at his new chair on the command deck and looked at the holo photo of the kids. "I gave Jason a way to contact us if anything really bad happens. But... this is it Kinsey. We're free. So. Let's find a corner of the galaxy we can be alone." he tossed her a small box. "Your wedding and engagement rings. I'm pretty sure you feel naked without them right?"

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“After I killed you I kind of resided to the fact I didn’t deserve them anymore.” Kinsey said as she opened the box and slipped them on. “I suppose Xenex is out of the question. It’s the first place they’d look.”

[Jack Ryder]

"Well that's why the Pod grew - so we can explore a bit and take our time finding some place to live." Jack said as he walked over to her. "That and we did take on some of the prisoners they've captured, the other Jacks and Kinseys sort of figured they needed to be kept from Dominus and Ophelia and Bellatrix." he shrugged his shoulders. "The ship's got plenty of room, we can spend years here and never see them."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“Jack,” Kinsey began with a raised eyebrow. “Send them back to their own realities. This one doesn’t need more of us running around. I don’t care how big this ship is and I don’t want to think about the possibility of accidently running into myself or another you.”

[Jack Ryder]

"Oh they're already back, these are other people they picked up." Jack gestured and a holographic display opened up. "Those portals I've been using are actually tapping into the same frequencies Dominus has used to traverse other realities, it only took me like... 200 years to figure out. I can even put it into something so you or someone with the right telepathic ability to mentally focus it to do what you want."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“Good I’ve had my fill of duplicates.” Kinsey said as she ran a hand along his arm. “Now that we can speak freely. We’re going to have to sit down and you’re going to have to tell me what’s happened to you. Maybe with lots of alcohol and aspirin and maybe you could do it shirtless. Just in case I really can’t follow you and I genuinely have to pretend.”

[Jack Ryder]

Jack laughed and took her hand. "I'll go shirtless if you do." he wiggled his eye brows. "Follow me." he lead her down a short corridor and into what almost looked like the outdoors. "Yeah, Pod's actually got its own atmosphere, if I let it grow it'll be well... maybe as big as the Xenex Colony in a year or two. She grows on her own, now that I figured out how to actually allow its sentience." he motioned to a small pod like structure. "Home sweet home for now. Well while you were being held by Alpha Section, I took a little time to prepare. JR actually took the Pod back about a decade or so and let it do its thing, so most of this was already ready by the time he beamed me here." gesturing to a tea pot he activated the burner and started warming it up. "I'll admit... I wasn't expecting to see Jason, but... I'm glad we said good bye in person. He was always the more sensitive of the twins. MC will be mad, but the video messages I left for her will... soften it."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“She’ll have Clint and Bella.” Kinsey said sadly. She wished she’d had the chance to say goodbye to Mackenzie as well. “She was always closer to you the video messages will help but they’ll understand. More than anyone will give them credit for and…I we’ll see them again. One way or another Jack I won’t be separated from them forever.”