It took Bertram a few hours to realize that his computer was beeping. The sound had been muted and sounded as if it were further away than only his jacket pocket. He reached for it excitedly and held it up to John.
"Someone activated our TTDs," he said happily. "There may be hope after all!"
"Hope?" John muttered. "I fail to see how that is going to do us any good, Bertram. The TTDs can't track us here because...they're over there, back in time."
"You underestimate my vast intellect," Bertram replied smugly and held up his hand held computer.
John rolled his eyes. "The plan is to get to the city, cobble together a TTD from whatever tech these backwater heathens have on hand. You and Phillip will write the temporal algorithms used to power it and..."
"Forget that," Bertram shook his adamantly. "I..."
"I don't care if you don't want to work with future boy!" John scowled. "You need to swallow your pride and work with him..."
"Shut-up already," Bertram snapped. "Look, I tied the signal from this computer to my Time Travel Device. It wouldn't have worked because it was off, but now someone turned it on..."
"They can track it?"
Bertram nodded with a grin. Relief momentarily spread across John's face, but was quickly replaced by a hard glare of cynicism.
"I just hope whoever is on the other side of that signal is on our side," he said.
****
Arwyn and Anne had reactivated the time field in order to study the TTDs that had been left behind. They wondered if there might not be a clue as to what happened to their owners inside. The two barely noticed the world around them revert to normal. The chaos that had surrounded the Knotts Berry Farm restaurant no longer existed. It stood there in its rightful place, with a massive line of old ladies and tourists in front waiting to put their name on the list to be seated for brunch.
It was Arwyn who looked up first. He nudged Anne and she joined him to look up at the missing chunk of building that was there as if it had never left.
"They're back! She said happily. She deactivated the time field and led Arwyn into the building. They passed Mary at the hostess kiosk, taking down names. They passed Catherine's parents, just returned from the restroom. They wondered why their daughter insisted on staying home to study. They passed The Rodriguez family, who were trying to wrangle their rambunctious middle child, Jose. They thought David was at his landscaping job. They passed a loudly complaining dark haired woman, who was screaming about her husband missing out on brunch to play golf with her cousins, and they passed a group of servers who were muttering to themselves about the extra workload they had to take on because Jody, Jason and Ned had not bothered showing up for work.
They had no recollection of anything that had happened. Time had reverted back to the second the building had been stolen, but when Arwyn and Anne reached their intended destination they found that the room was empty.
"Shit." Anne said.
"I know this is John's fault somehow," she muttered.
"Come on," Arwyn said. "Let's not blame the victims, alright? He may have done something ill advised, but we all make mistakes."
"Some more than others," she replied.
"You're upset; I understand," Arwyn replied. "I would be too if I woke up after ten...eight months and everything I knew had changed completely. He's not your partner anymore, so whatever he's done it's not a reflection on you. And don't take it out on him because you're worried about him."
"Of course I'm worried about him," She replied. "He's...a rookie, out there in time with a failed field agent."
"It'll work out," Arwyn said. "Let's go get an ice cream and do a little more research on what happened here, okay?"
"Now's not the time for ice cream," Anne replied with a weary sigh.
"There's always time for ice cream," Arwyn said. He offered his arm as she looked skeptically up at him. Then she accepted his offer and they walked back into the newly restored Knott's Berry Farm Restaurant.
****
The Rebel City was more impressive then John had thought it would be. He took a moment away from nagging Bertram to revel in the sight of actual technology. The metal buildings were low to the ground, but, aside from the gasoline powered vehicles zipping about, it seemed to be a reasonably advanced society. Truth be told John had half been expecting an encampment of hutches made out of sticks with thatched roofs and chickens running about the dirt roads, or, best case scenario, a medieval town surrounded by a tall stone wall and a moat. As it were, despite the lack of temporal technologies, the city was livable.
The group was assembled and brought before the rebel council. Though it was not so much an interrogation as it had been with the Royal Chromian general. They were invited to sit at the round table and discuss their fateful predicament. In the end they were offered free room and board at the nearest hotel and access to whatever technologies and means they needed to achieve their goal.
"Our scientists have been working so hard on mastering this time travel," the head of the council, a woman no older than Catherine said. "They have not been able to come close. We have lost some good people in our experiments."
"Get them stuck in walls and stuff?" John asked smugly.
The councilwoman blanched at his flippant description of the horrors their attempts at time travel had wreaked on the scientific team that had been gathered to unlock the secrets of time and space. Having someone rematerialize in the middle of a wall, or some other object was the least of the horrors.
"What makes you think you will be any more successful," she asked.
"This," John pulled the broken TTD out of his pocket and waved it in the air.
"This is a time travel device!"
The occupants of the table Oooed and Ahhhed, until one older man coughed and informed them that it looked too small to be of any use at all.
"That's the problem," Bertram spoke up enthusiastically. "This one is even more advanced than the ones ... err ... that were stolen from John and I! The nanotech is too small and too advanced for me to fix. I do know how to build a more rudimentary model as it were, and..." he sighed and begrudgingly held a hand out to acknowledge Phillip. "Phillip here...he's an absolutely brilliant coder and expert in temporal mathematics. He can fill in the software side of things."
The council eyed Phillip curiously. He looked right back at them as calm as can be.
"Him?" One the older man finally said with barely concealed contempt. "What is he? Twelve?"
The rest of the group tittered at his comment. Underneath the table David gave Phillip a reassuring pat on the knee. He glanced at David with a slight smile. Though he didn't particularly need the reassurance, it was still appreciated.
"May I have the computer, Detective Powers." Phillip held out his hand as he stood up being careful to keep his eyes firmly trained on the members of the council who sat across the table. Bertram obligingly held out the device, and Phillip punched up the holographic screen. The council stared at it in amazement.
"I'm from the 82nd century," Phillip said. "There's only two things I know how to do well, and the other one is Maths." He stole a glance back at David and smirked. David's blush could be seen through his dark complexion and Phillip quickly turned back towards the council. "With a concentration on Temporal Mathematics and theory of course."
He punched up another screen and began an overly complicated explanation of the time map and the theories of time travel. Every time a scientist deigned to stump him with one of their questions he had an answer. He kept at it until he had silenced the doubters. Then he sat down to the very approving looks of his companions. Even Bertram had to smile at the amazed look on the council's faces.
"And there you have it," John said. "I trust that you believe us now?"
One of the scientist council members addressed the detective hopefully. "You will share with us the secrets of time travel?"
John shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that. We're detectives and we've pledged to uphold the laws of the galaxies, and well... We can't give you the technology. You have to discover it on your own, through your own means or it could be disaster for the time line. It's already been damaged enough by our mere presence on this planet. There's been a fissure in time...the past has changed. We just can't... I hope you understand."
Several of the council had taken on angry scowls upon hearing this, but the woman in charge hushed their whispering and stood up to address them.
"If we want to join in the temporal community," she said, "Then we must respect the time line and those who protect it!" She nodded towards the detectives. "I pray you all understand this."
The others begrudgingly nodded in her direction.
"Now, tomorrow is a new day," she said. "A day filled with many exciting prospects. Our guests are surely weary from their travels and we shall welcome them to our city. Please," She addressed the detectives. "Make yourselves at home."
"Thank you," John bowed in respect and Bertram stood and followed suit.
***
"You were amazing," David happily chattered at Phillip later on that night. They had tried to go out on the town and experience what life was like in the rebel city, but word had traveled fast and they had been accosted at every angle by curious onlookers and some who weren't satisfied just looking. They wanted to know everything about 21st century Earth and everything about 82nd century Golden Utopia. They had only been out for an hour before retiring to their hotel room and ordering room service. True to his word Bertram had left them to their own devices for the night.
"Hardly," Phillip replied, suddenly feeling shy.
"No, you really know your stuff," David said. "Like I said...intimidating. I didn't even begin to understand the stuff you were talking about in there."
"It's easy," Phillip replied. "I can explain...whatever you like. Just ask." He sat down on the bed and pulled the computer out of his pocket. They had been able to finally shower and had been provided with new, nondescript clothing. Phillip looked strange in a t-shirt and draw string pants. It was a far cry from the proper waistcoat he had been wearing when he first appeared.
He pulled up the holographic map of time, which suddenly looked more impressive to David than when John had shown it to him. He sat on the side of the bed opposite and gazed at the swirling mass.
"That is time?"
"Yep," Phillip said. "Always expanding out. See," He pointed at a bulbous outcropping. "This is what the fissure has caused. Sort of like a mutant time line. Parallel worlds that aren't supposed to exist."
"As opposed to the parallel words that are supposed to exist?" David laughed.
Phillip didn't. "Exactly," he said instead, becoming serious. "It's hypothesized that time began at one fixed point. As with any sphere there is an infinite amount of tangents, which represent each possible outcome of every event beginning from the very first point and expanding outwards. new worlds are created every day. People slip in and out of time every day naturally. Sometimes the time lines are so closely related that you don't even realize that you've slipped into a parallel world or the future. These slips are harmless."
"Are you serious?" David frowned, trying to wrap his mind around it.
"Yeah." Phillip shrugged. "Why not? Ever hear of Déjà vu ?"
"So let me get this straight..." David pondered. "I don't just feel like this thing has happened before; I accidentally slipped into my own future and saw it with my own eyes?"
"Yep. These events barely last more than a nanosecond at a time. You wouldn't even notice it until it happens again and you remember it."
"This is brain numbing," David admitted. "I don't think I'm supposed to know about that; am I?"
Phillip shook his head. "It won't really matter. You can't do anything to stop it. It's a fact of life."
"Okay." David changed the subject. "So, you have a time map here...where are we now?"
Phillp pulled up a different map then, pointed to an area and zoomed in on it. "This is Chromia. There are time signatures going in, but none coming out."
"Because of the death thing?" David wondered.
"Yeah."
"And where's Earth?
Phillip scrolled through the known galaxies stored in Bertram's computer and came upon the Milky Way. He pointed to Earth, which twirled slowly around a hologram of the sun.
"Hot sun," David pointed out with a smile. Phillip laughed with him but then David frowned. "I miss it. The Earth. It's a nice place."
Phillip nodded. He left David be alone with his thoughts for a moment. He knew what it was like to be homesick.
"Where are you from?" David broke in to Phillip's thoughts about Golden Utopia.
Phillip scrolled to a different galaxy and pulled up his planet on the map.
"Four suns," David murmured.
"Four suns," Phillip echoed him and reached his hand out towards the image of his home planet just as David did so. Their fingers touched. They hesitated for a moment before entwining them. Phillip leaned across the bed into the hologram and David did the same. They met in the middle, lips a gentle brush against one another.
Then David giggled.
Phillip pulled away and frowned in dismay. "Well, you don't have to laugh at me," he said.
"It's not that!" David brushed the back of his hand against his lips, causing Phillip's frown to deepen. "I like the way you kiss, it's just that holograph thingie. It tickles when I put my head in it."
"Oh!" Phillip laughed as well as the realization dawned on him. He had spent enough time when he had been in college in virtual reality simulators that he was used to the feeling of a hologram on his body.
"It was kinda hot though," David admitted.
"Be that as it may," Phillip hastily turned the computer off with a large grin adorning his face. "Shall we?" He waved his hand over the bed.
"Oh, we shall," David grinned in return. And then he pounced.
****
"Just wait it out," Bertram muttered at John. He sat in the lobby next to his partner enjoying a drink and watching the rest of the group playing around at the bar.
"Wait it out? What the hell kind of distress signal is this?" John complained.
"It takes time," Bertram replied. "Were at the edge of the known galaxies on the fucking edge of time, John. The signal can only travel as fast as it can go."
"Okay," John conceded. "So can you track it at least? Maybe make a guess as to how long we're going to be stuck here? Because, I mean, like, if it's twenty years we could probably start working on that other plan."
"We were going to anyway," Bertram pointed out.
John just glared at him and Bertram reached for his computer.
It wasn't in his pocket.
"What the fuck?" He muttered.
John clapped his hand to his forehead. "You gave it to future boy at the council meeting, remember?"
"Oh, god," Bertram said...then laughed.
"What's so funny?" John scowled.
"Yeah," Bertram replied. "You're going to have to wait on your estimates, buddy, because I am so not barging in on whatever the hell they're getting up to."
John groaned and stood up.
"Drink?"
"Yeah?" Bertram eyed him curiously.
"Sure." John shrugged. "We've got time, right? Besides, we're on the verge of going home...as the only time travelers to ever escape Chromia alive! Cause for a little celebration, wouldn't you say?"
"Absolutely!" Bertram replied.
****
Catherine had consumed enough alcohol to acquire enough courage to ask Jason out. They had been laughing at one of Ned's stupid jokes when she blurted it out.
"Would you like to got get some coffee?" She asked he in a rather loud voice that garnered the attentions of several passing Rebels.
"Do they umm...Do they even have coffee here?" He replied in an amused voice.
Catherine blushed at Jason, but he smiled and gently caressed her shoulder. Ned and Jody made loud "Awwing" noises at them while Jerry watched on, proud of his girl even though she had needed a bucket full of liquid courage to spur her on.
"I mean...I mean when we get back," she stammered, fully embarrassed.
He paused to consider her words and shrugged. "Of course. I would love to get some coffee." He smiled at her as she let out a sigh of relief.
****
Back in the twenty first Century a shrill alarm whistle startled Arwyn Anderson and Detective Anne Steele out of a heated debate over the merits of chocolate vs. strawberry ice cream. Anne quickly pulled out the screaming Time Travel Device and then grinned at it and stood up from the table so fast that she nearly knocked her chair over.
"Oh, my god," she gasped.
"What is it?" Arwyn stood up and joined her.
"Bertram Powers is a fucking genius," she said and pointed out the distress signal. "He linked his TTD to his personal computer. Which is strictly forbidden, but bless his hacking heart."
"What does that mean?" Arwyn asked.
"It means," Anne said with a smile curving her lips upwards. "We're going to Chromia."
Arwyn blanched.
"That's...forbidden, Anne."
"Forbidden as it may be, that's where they are," Anne replied. "Don't worry Arwyn. We'll jump in...grab them and jump out."
"What if they're already dead?" He asked.
"Don't say that." She frowned. It was a conclusion that she didn't even want to think about. She linked arms with him as soon as he'd finished swallowing down his pills with a scoop of strawberry ice cream.
"Ready, partner?" She asked.
"Ready," he said.
***
Phillip was startled awake by a loud noise. He lifted his head from David's chest and came face to face with a woman pointing a gun at him. He shook David out of his own slumber. He woke with a start and felt his heart jump directly into his throat as soon as he saw the gun.
"Wah...what's going on, Phillip?" He stumbled over his words and pulled the sheet that covered them up to cover his bare chest.
"Modest now?" Phillip smirked back at him. David narrowed his gaze disapprovingly and nodded towards the woman with the gun.
"Shut-up!" She snapped at them. There was another man standing behind her timidly. He held his firearm down, pointed at the floor.
"Where is Bertram Powers?" She demanded as she held up the computer.
"I'd imagine," Phillip replied. "That he's down in the lobby."
Anne lowered her gun slightly. "Why do you have this computer? Is he under arrest for violation of the Holochrome treaty? Because we are here as..."
"Uh...he's not," David spoke up.
"Let me handle this," Phillip whispered at him and David was more than happy to oblige.
"The Detectives are downstairs," Phillip said. "Bertram let me borrow his computer."
"Bertram doesn't let anybody borrow his computer," Anne replied suspiciously. "How do I know you're telling the truth."
"Lady," Phillip snorted indignantly at her. "I'm sitting here naked and you have a gun on me. I'm not that good of a liar."
"Get dressed," she said. "You're coming with us."
Phillip shrugged. "Fine with us. Right, David?"
David nodded. He followed Phillip's lead and together they traveled to the lobby with the Detectives and their guns following them.
"We found a couple of your friends," David said as soon as he caught sight of Bertram Powers and John Arker.
Bertram burst out laughing. He was drunk, but he still knew what had happened. The signal had worked, and the Detectives had tracked it directly to his computer, which had still been in Phillip's possession.
"Yes, very funny," Phillip muttered.
John stared up from his drink at Anne Steele. He hadn't seen her in eight months, and it was a shock.
"Anne?" He stood up and approached her. He reached out to her and ran his hand along her arm as if he wasn't sure she was really there.
"Stop it John." She yanked her arm away from him and scowled. "You are still as stupid as ever. Going in without backup again, weren't you? You never learn. It doesn't make you less of a man to ask for help. I told you!"
"Anne!" He repeated her name and then pulled her into a huge bear hug. "It is you." He whispered in her ear. "God, it's good to have you back." He broke away from her and then asked how she had gotten out of Alrice Van die Welt's time loop.
"You ripped a hole in the fabric of space and time, you big idiot," she said fondly. Then she introduced him to Arwyn.
"So." She turned and looked around the room. "Are you guys ready to go back home?"
There was a cheer from the crowd, then Jody raised her hand.
"She wants you to call on her," Bertram whispered at Anne.
Anne regarded him curiously then pointed to Jody and urged her to continue.
"Me and Cath have something we need to do," she said. "Can we have, like...an hour?"
Bertram nodded and shooed the two girls away before Anne could put her foot down.
"He's the good cop." John pointed at him with a fond smirk.
****
The girls found Dale at the barn on the military outpost on the outskirts of the city. He was mucking out the stalls while Maribelle sat perched on a nearby hay bale cooing softly to herself. Jody hobbled over to the Quickling and patted her on the furry head.
"We have to go home," Catherine spoke to Dale. He stopped shoveling forkfuls of bedding around and stared at her.
"But we were going to go out tomorrow. I was going to show you around town!"
"I know!" Catherine replied mournfully. "I didn't think we would have to leave so soon, but apparently those detective guys actually did something right for once! We can't stay. Laws of time and all that."
Jody left the Quickling's side and approached Catherine and Dale. Both girls took hold of one his hands, and he blushed to the roots of his hair. He felt a slight surge of satisfaction at the thought of how the magnificent Dor, Knight of the Chromian Rebellion, would react to his squire getting such attention from the girls.
"I wish you didn't have to leave," Dale said sadly, shoving aside that satisfaction. He had been looking forward to spending time and learning more about the time travelers.
"Well, when you invent time travel," Catherine said, "You come and visit us, okay?"
"21st Century Earth," Jody contributed. "Los Angeles, California, USA"
Dale smiled at their good intentions even though he had a feeling that time travel wouldn't be invented in Chromia until well after his death and theirs.
"I will," he said instead.
"And take care of Maribelle," Jody pointed at the Quickling.
"Make sure she doesn't get into trouble," Catherine contributed. "And give her lots of fresh french fries, okay?"
Dale nodded with a smile, as the girls reluctantly let go of his hands and stepped backwards.
"Keep yourself well," he said with a parting wave.
***
They returned to the group then. It was time to go home. The lobby of thier hotel was as good a place as any to start the process. Jason and Ned held on to John as he programmed his Time Travel Device for Earth. They winked out of existence and left the others blinking in their wake.
"That's so wierd," Catherine spoke up. "It's like, I know they were here, but it doesn't feel like they were here."
"Yep," Bertram said. "That's how it works. Who's next?" Jody raised her hand, and Catherine followed suit. "Okay, girls," he said. Jody grabbed his hand and Catherine held on to hers. Then they were gone.
"Okay," Anne said, taking over as the senior officer. "Jerry and David with Arwyn. I'll drop you off with the proper authorities in your own time, Phillip."
"No." David said stubbornly and held fast to Phillip's hand.
Anne rolled her eyes at them. "Fine. You can say goodbye when we get to Earth."
She stalked up to them, grabbed Phillip's arm and activated her TTD.
"Just you and me," Jerry said to Arwyn. He watched as the young detective swallowed a handful of pills.
"You know," he said. "I might not be a detective when the fissure is repaired."
"Really?" Jerry asked.
"I might not even exist at all," he murmured.
"Are you going to kidnap me?" Jerry eyed him curiously.
"Nah," Arwyn replied. "I'm just thinking aloud. I'm a detective now, so I must uphold the law." He placed a gentle hand on Jerry's shoulder, and once again the Chromian galaxy was free of time traveling interlopers.
****
Jerry had said his good byes quickly, as he strode purposefully back into the dining room of the Knott's Berry farm restaurant. It had been mere minutes since Mary had accosted him and enticed him into the back room with the prospect of meeting Snoopy. To the innocent bystander who had not been flung across time, it appeared that he had turned straight back almost as soon as he'd left the room without more than a few minutes passing.
Esther was still there loudly complaining about the air conditioning blowing on her.
"Esther, I need to talk to you," he said firmly and concisely. "In private."
She glared at him. Before he'd gone on his adventure he never would have stood up to that glare. He would have been cowed into submission. He wasn't going to do that anymore. There had been one thing he had learned on his trip and that was something that Esther had never seen in him. He had been taken for a reason. He was worth something.
"Anything you have to say to me, you can say in front of everybody." She gestured towards the entire table. They stared at him; every one with an identical expression of contempt.
"Okay." He stood up a little straighter and looked her in the eye. She glared back at him. He would have never dared address her in such a manner before.
"Esther," he began. "I met you during a part of my life where I was feeling lonely. I was at a weak point, and you took advantage of that."
"Jerry." She scowled a warning at him, but he ignored her and continued his speech.
"One day, Esther, whether you believe me or not, I'm going to do something great. I'm going to do something so amazing that it's going to affect the whole of human history, beyond even the boundaries of space that we know today. I don't know what, but it's going to happen."
"Yeah, right!!" Esther snorted at him, and the whole table followed her in an uproarious hail of laughter. Jerry just smiled placidly and waited for them to finish.
"That's the thing, Esther," he said when it had quieted down. "I didn't want to do this in front of the kids, that's why I wanted to do this in private," he said sadly. "But I'm not going to achieve anything with you by my side. I'm sorry. I want a divorce."
And Esther Baum was rendered speechless for the first time in her life. The angry color drained from her cheeks. Before she could gather herself and explode with rage, Jerry called his children over to him and held out his hands. They timidly took hold and looked up at him. He was going to have to talk to them then; sit them down and tell them what had just happened in words they could understand. It broke his heart, but he knew it was for the best. As he led them away, Esther Baum burst into tears.
****
Catherine timidly approached Jason. He broke away from Ned and walked over to her. She was almost too frightened to speak to him and was contemplating just running away.
"Hey," he addressed her. "How you doin'?"
"I'm okay," she said. Then she gathered up her courage. "Look, about earlier..."
"The coffee thing?" he asked.
She nodded. "I meant it, you know."
"I know," he replied.
"Did you mean it?" She asked.
"Why wouldn't I mean it?" He scrunched his face up into a curious expression.
"Oh, I don't know," she replied. "Because we were on a planet where the male to female ratio was like ten to one, and Jody was already set on Bertram."
He laughed and shook his head negatively. "I said yes because I like you." He replied. "I want to keep in touch. We should get to know one another better."
Catherine smiled then, temporarily reassured that his interest in her had not been temporary. They exchanged phone numbers and an awkward first time hug. Catherine practically skipped back to the dining room where her mother and step father awaited.
"What are you so happy about?" Her mother asked in an amused fashion. It was a temporary stop in the fighting Catherine noted.
"I have a date," she said with a grin.
****
Ned and Jason trudged back to work. After all they had been through they had gotten back the second after they had left. Six days spent on Chromia, translated into twelve days Earth time, and they still had to finish their shift at the restaurant.
"This is shit," Ned mumbled. Not only was he sober, but Bertram had taken he and Jason and Jody aside and explained to them that they had only been innocent bystanders. Their being displaced from the time line had very little to no effect on the grand scheme of things. It had only caused a few minor, inconsequential ripples.
They were accosted by another co-worker who asked them if they wanted to sneak outside for a smoke. He made the ubiquitous hand motion for a joint and arched his eyebrows suggestively. Jason declined as he always did, but Ned's reaction was unexpected.
"No thanks," he said.
The co-worker looked stunned.
"I've had enough of that," Ned replied.
"Really?" Jason glanced over at him in astonishment.
"Really," Ned muttered. "Jason, I don't want to be a nobody."
Jason patted his friend on the back. It was good to see him take an interest in his own life for once.
****
Jody hadn't wanted to leave. She didn't want to say goodbye to Bertram. She hung back and waited patiently as Bertram, John, Anne and Arwyn had a discussion quietly in the corner. Finally he approached her.
"You know I have to go back." He said.
"I know," she replied sadly. They had never gotten a chance, and that was disappointing.
"So..." He ventured. "Would you like to go out some time?"
Her head snapped up in shock.
"What?" She said rather loudly.
"Well, if you don't mind having a boyfriend from the future," he said with a grin.
"But I thought..."
"There are advantages to having a minimal impact on the time line," he replied.
"Seriously?" She couldn't believe her good luck.
"Yeah. I mean, it's frowned upon, but inter-temporal relationships are allowed in special cases," he said. "John and Anne are pretty sure I can get a weekend pass and holidays and a few weeks vaction. It'll be difficult, but we can at least try. I'll even get you a TCA so we can talk on the phone."
Jody squealed then and practically jumped into his arms.
"May I kiss you?" He asked politely once she had settled down.
"Of course you can, silly," she replied. "I've been waiting for you to do it for almost two damn weeks now."
He smiled at her then, tilted her head up, leaned forward and did just that.
****
"It's not fair." David eyed Bertram and Jody. "Why couldn't we have that?"
"You're too important to the time line." Phillip shook his head sadly. "If you were to jump through time...if I were to come here at all...it'd fuck things up. You already know too much. Besides, it's a condition of my deal..."
"What deal?" David eyed him.
"I get six months community service and never travel through time again in exchange for my testimony against Gerald Moxley."
"Some deal." David pouted and crossed his arms.
"It is a hell of a deal," Phillip replied. "I'd be looking at life in prison otherwise."
"Oh, god!" David pulled him into a hug. "I'm never going to see you again!"
"Probably not," Phillip replied. He lay his head on David's shoulder.
"It's not fair," David repeated.
"Life's not fair," Phillip said. "I did a bad, bad thing, David. I don't deserve fair."
David pulled him away in order to look him in the eye. They both wore identical expressions of devastation.
"This can't be happening," David muttered. He pressed his forehead against Phillip's and they stood as close to each other as possible.
"Just...before you go," he continued. "Can you do me a favor too?"
"Yeah," Phillip murmured without thinking twice.
"Quit that job," he said. "If you find no pleasure in it do what you love."
Phillip was on the verge of protesting, but he sighed instead.
"You're right," he admitted. "But I barely have anything in the bank, Moxley was supposed to..."
"Excuses," David replied, cutting him off before he could embark on a tangent about his former lover. "Work hard. Get a job where you can use your...um, math skill. It may not be as easy, but you're too smart to throw it all away."
"Okay," Phillip acquiesced.
David kissed him then. Softly and sweetly. It was a lingering kiss, and it meant goodbye. Forever. They stood with their heads together for a moment longer until Bertram gently tapped Phillip on the shoulder.
"It's time," he said softly.
Phillip nodded and reluctantly stepped away from David.
Then he was gone.
