Chapter 11
“We should have an attorney here for this.” I muttered as I picked at the tie I was wearing. It was later in the afternoon on Sunday. Davey had left to go visit his grandfather and his sister as soon as he could leave. He hadn’t spoken to me at all, and I saw the hurt look on his face, like he’d been betrayed, and part of me understood that feeling in him. My parents and I had sat down for a heavy conversation after which Dad had called Marcie’s father, who had spent the first part of the conversation yelling at my father before agreeing to come over with his wife and daughter.
Now we were all dressed up, waiting for them to arrive. Dad had dressed in his business suit, and I was wearing a dress shirt and tie as well as slacks while mom was wearing a similar suit to Dad’s except with a skirt. There had been some actual arguing, but I’d won the right to lead the conversation once they were here and sitting down, while Dad had won that we’d face them as a family first, without an attorney. This was a serious situation, all of us knew, and not something to be taken lightly.
“Brian, we all agreed that we’ll start this like civilized people without resorting to attorneys.” Dad said and I bristled at the unspoken implication attorneys weren’t civilized. I’d been an attorney for most of my adult life, albeit I hadn’t practiced family law, ever. It would have been nice to consult some legal books for case histories, but there wasn’t access to any at this time.
“I know.” I said anxiously as there was the sound of a car pulling up. When they rang the doorbell, and dad opened it, I knew this wasn’t going to be a fun exercise. Marcie was dressed to the hilt with a tight dress that showed off her bosom, a diamond necklace and earrings that were probably the ones that my other self had bought for her before I came back in time. She showed a firm expression on her face. Her father looked like he was going to hit me before he nodded at my father. He was wearing jeans and a flannel shirt while Marcie’s mother was wearing a simple but nice dress.
“Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth, please come in.” Dad said politely.
“Would you like some tea, juice, or maybe some water?” Mom asked politely and all three of them shook their heads as Dad led us into the dining room. Marcie tried to reach out to grab my arm but I quickened my pace a bit so she couldn’t reach me without being too obvious. Dad sat down at the head of the table with Mr. Ellsworth at the other end. Mom sat on Dad’s right and I sat on his left. Marcie started to cross down to sit next to me before her father glared at her and she shifted to sit on the same side of the table as me but next to him.
“Your son has gone and gotten my daughter pregnant, Breckenridge.” Mr. Ellsworth spat the words out like gunfire from a machine gun. “I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
“I’m going to listen to what my son has to say, and what your daughter has to say as well.” Dad said in a firm, even tone and Ellsworth bristled at that while his wife looked slightly uncomfortable. Ellsworth was a big bear of a man with dark bushy hair and a bushy beard while she was much smaller, although slightly plump and had mousy brown hair. How Marcie had gotten her looks from them I wasn’t quite sure, but some of her attitude could be explained by her father’s bearish manner. Then again, this was the first time that I had ever met the man.
“What is there to say?” Ellsworth demanded harshly. “He got her pregnant and now he has to do the right thing. That’s all there is to say.”
“How far along is the pregnancy according to the doctor?” I asked in a neutral tone, drawing their eyes to me and I noticed how Marcie squirmed.
“She hasn’t been to a doctor yet.” Mr. Ellsworth fumed. “We can’t afford the bill. You’ll have to pay for this.”
“If she is pregnant, and if the child is mine, then yes I’ll be responsible for her pre-natal related medical expenses.” I said, ignoring the looks of faint surprise on the faces of my mother and father and focusing on the outrage on Mr. Ellsworth’s face.
“A woman knows if she’s pregnant!” Mrs. Ellsworth spoke up for the first time looking at me with angry indignation while her husband roared. “What do you mean if it’s yours? Of course it’s yours!”
“With all due respect to you as a mother, Mrs. Ellsworth, your daughter has proven herself to be a lying and manipulative young women with no hint of a conscience or morals.” I said and ignored Mr. Ellsworth’s roar of anger and his slapping the table before demanding an apology from me. “Mr. Ellsworth, calm down before you become the second member of your family to have the police called after attempting to damage the property of me and my family.”
“What are you talking about?” Mrs. Ellsworth asked as her husband’s face turned purple and my dad looked at me with surprise and worry.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know your daughter was arrested for trying to vandalize my car.” I asked with a lift of my eyebrow.
“She told me that was just a misunderstanding.” She said with a frown. “It was just a joke that got out of hand.”
“Ma’am, with all due respect, your daughter lied to you.” I said.
“I did not!” Marcie cried out. “I just got a little overwrought and you got upset. You told me you loved me and would spend the rest of your life with me and then you changed and dropped me and now I’m pregnant with your baby!”
“You may be pregnant, with a child that may not be mine.” I said coldly and she started to cry, drawing an angry look at me from her father who put an arm around her.
“Who else would it be?” He demanded angrily.
“Let’s see, Marcie has bragged at school about having slept with Mark Spencer after she broke up with me, and I saw her giving fellatio to him in his car so that’s a real possibility.” I said casually and Marcie shouted her innocence while her dad roared at me that I was lying. “Then, of course, while she was dating him, she told her friend she was also sleeping with Chad Kipple. Then my friends have told me that even while she was dating me she cheated on me with two other guys, neither of whom attend our high school.”
“You liar!” Mr. Ellsworth roared, pointing a meaty finger at me. “You deflowered her, stole her virginity. She told me that herself! She’s never been in a serious relationship with anyone but you!”
“Mr. Ellsworth, if there is one thing I’m certain of it is that your daughter has never had a serious relationship with anyone or anything, and most especially she’s not even a passing acquaintance of the truth. She’s a natural-born liar.”
“How dare you!” Marcie wailed. “This is all the fault of that creep you’ve been hanging around, the one who convinced you to break up with me.”
“Can you not tell the truth even now?” I asked with scorn in my voice. “Or have you really forgotten that you dumped me and told me I’d have to come crawling on my knees to get you back.”
“I did not!” She exclaimed before burying her face in her heads and shaking her shoulders with what I was sure were fake sobs.
“Now look at what you’ve done!” Mrs. Ellsworth wailed while getting up and going around to her daughter and pulling her in tightly so that Marcie buried her face against her mother’s bosom while Mrs. Ellsworth glared at me. “And to think I thought you were such a nice boy!”
“To think I thought your daughter cared about anyone or anything other than herself.” I snorted and my dad touched my arm in a warning gesture. “Be that as it may, here is what I am prepared to offer. First off, we’ll set up a trust account to cover any pre-natal bills if the child is proven to be mine. Second, if and only if a paternity test comes back positive that I’m the father, we will arrange child support payments until the child is eighteen, if she is granted custody of the child by the courts.”
“What do you mean if the child is yours?” Marcie’s father demanded. “It can’t be anyone’s but yours.”
“We’ll see when the paternity test is done.” I said firmly.
“Brian, just marry me and we won’t have to worry about any of this.” Marcie said as she pulled her face out of mother’s bosom. “You said you loved me, why won’t you just marry me?”
“If I ever loved you, what you’ve done since January has cured me of that forever.” I said to her coldly and she let out a wail.
“I wouldn’t want a little piece of shit like you as a son-in-law anyway.” Mr. Ellsworth snarled as he stood up. “You’ll be hearing from our attorney.”
“You’ll be hearing from ours as well.” My father said as he also stood up. “It’ll start with a lawsuit requiring your daughter to submit to an exam by a qualified physician to determine if your daughter really is pregnant. Then it’ll require a paternity test, and you better pray Brian is the father, because if he isn’t, we’ll sue you for libel and defamation of character and take every damn penny you have.”
“Oh yeah, well you’ll be sorry your family ever crossed paths with mine!” Ellsworth roared before bustling his daughter and wife out of the house. Dad followed them and Mom let out a long breath while shaking her head.
“Brian, I wish you’d never gotten involved with that girl.” She said softly and I chortled softly.
“So do I, Mom, so do I.” I agreed with her fervently.
“Brian, I don’t know what you think you were doing, but calling a man’s daughter a slut to his face does not make you friends.” Dad said as he reentered the room and sat down.
“Dad, I knew that if Marcie’s parents were anything like her, giving them an inch would have been as good as giving them the whole game.” I said.
“Do you think the child’s yours?” Dad asked and I shrugged.
“I sure as hell hope not.” I said. “I promise one thing though, nothing like this will ever happen again.”
“I sure hope not.” Dad said and he gave me a long look. He took a swallow as if he was nervous and I realized he had probably figured me and Davey out. “I’d much rather have Davey as part of the family than anyone like that.”
“So would I, Dad.” I said as Mom watched me for my reaction. There was nervousness in my gut, but they both nodded slowly.
“You might want to open a window next time he spends the night in your room.” Mom said with a shake of her head.
“Yeah.” I agreed with a blush of my cheeks.
“So, is this… thing with him serious?” Dad asked. “Have you two actually… talked? How long has it been going on?”
“It’s very serious, at least on my part and I’m pretty sure on his as well.” I said softly. “He’s probably hurting right now from all this other stuff, I think that’s why he left like that. We’ve talked a little, but not enough, and as for how long, last night was the first time.”
“I’ve always said you were a lot like your Uncle Rich.” Mom said with a shake of her head and a penetrating look at me. “Is that why you were with that… that girl? You were still upset over Uncle Rich and didn’t want to be like him.”
“You really do know me.” I said with a sad smile and she nodded.
“I can understand that, son, but you can see what a mess this is.” Dad said with a sad shake of his head. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ll always love you, but you have to know we’re disappointed in you over this whole mess, and you’ve hurt Davey. I’m not sure you and him… getting to know each other better at this point was necessarily a good thing.”
“The timing could be better, but that’s par for the course.” I said with a shrug remembering all the times that life had intruded on my life with Davey. Something moved into place inside of me and I knew it was time to tell all my secrets, or nearly all of them. “Mom, Dad, we need to talk, about a couple of things, not just this, but I’d like Davey to be there. He’s an important part of my life.”
“When he gets back, or tomorrow evening after school we can all talk.” Dad said with a heavy sigh. “Until then, how about we stick our heads in the sand?”
“That sounds good to me.” Mom said with a sigh of her own and I nodded my agreement. I didn’t quite ignore things the rest of the day, since I called both Brandon and Trevor to tell them what was going on with Marcie. Both of them were outraged, and promised to support me if I needed their help. That helped a bit, that they were sticking by me now. It was hard to admit to myself that I had missed them as much as I really had.
Davey never came home that night.
He did call to tell Mom that he’d be staying over at his grandparents. Mom tried to get him to promise to come over after school, but he backed away from that commitment. It hurt, but I had faith that we’d manage to work through this problem like any other I’d ever experienced with Davey. All night I tossed and turned, thinking about things and how to explain them to him, and to my parents. When dawn came, I’d slept very little and got up in a tired state that not even a shower and a short morning run could quite solve.
Even as I pulled into the parking lot it felt like everyone was staring at me and whispering behind their hands. Had Marcie shouted it from the hilltops that I’d gotten her pregnant? I was surprised when I walked between a row of classrooms and the gym to find someone waiting for me. Katie looked nervous, and kept on looking around as if to make sure no one saw her talking to me.
“What is it, Katie?” I asked her in a short tone of voice.
“Marcie’s spreading it around school that you got her pregnant.” Katie said in a hushed voice.
“It takes two to tango, and we still don’t know which guy was dancing with her when she got bit.” I said and Katie actually snorted as if she was holding back a laugh.
“That’s not quite true.” She said in a quiet voice. “The day you broke up with her, you remember, after that New Year’s party?”
“Yes.” I answered.
“She was complaining that she’d gotten pissy with you because she was on her period.” Katie said. “Then she asked to borrow a pad from me because she was out.”
“If she was having her period after the last time we had sex…” I said with a sudden swelling of hope inside me. I’d been right; even if she was pregnant there was no way it was mine!
“I… what she’s doing is wrong.” Katie said. “She’s fixated on you like a bitch in heat but it’s obvious you want nothing to do with her and she’s trying to trap you. It’s wrong. I’m sorry, you should know, but I won’t admit it if you tell anyone. Her little brother’s already threatened to beat me up if I mentioned it to anyone.”
“Her little brother knows?” I asked in surprise.
“She really is pregnant, Brian.” Katie said in a rush. “It’s just not yours. Too bad for you your family has more money than any of the other guys she’s fooled around with, so they’re going after you to get what money you guys have.”
“Her entire family knows?” I said incredulously while she nodded.
“Just remember I didn’t tell you any of this!” She said in a rush before turning and heading away at a very quick walk.
“You couldn’t pay me enough to have your life, Breckenridge.” Coach Cole’s voice said from behind me and I turned to see him walking around the side of the gym.
“You heard?” I asked him and he nodded.
“Let’s go in my office and talk.” He suggested and I nodded before following him inside. I’d been continuing with the NJROTC two times a week and had even got a reluctant Davey to join. When he had shut the door and we were seated in his office, he shook his head. “So your ex-girlfriend is trying to trap you into marrying her?”
“Something like that, yeah.” I said and told him the whole story from the message on the answering machine to the explosive meeting at my house. I even found myself telling him how Davey had left and not come back.
“Hm.” He said with a chuckle. “You and Davey, I didn’t see that one coming.”
“I–we–we’re not…” I started to protest but he waved me off.
“Breckenridge, I’ve seen the way he looks at you during practice and I wasn’t born yesterday.” Cole was nearly chuckling. “I won’t say I’m exactly comfortable with it, but let’s just say that I got use to turning a blind eye at times in the Navy and I see nothing wrong with continuing that here. You aren’t the only two boys I’ve seen making eyes at each other in this gym.”
“I bet.” I said while thinking of Trevor and Brandon who seemed to be developing more and more of a relationship with each other. That surprised me, at least on Trevor’s part since he’d always grown out of his man-on-man attraction by college and gone off to marry a girl, at least according to Davey he’d done that in every other timeline.
“Well I’m not going to name names, but let’s get back to your ex.” Cole said with a shake of his head. “What are you going to do about her?”
“Call her a slut and demand a paternity test.” I answered. “That was always the plan but after that little conversation you overheard, it’s sounding even better since the paternity test will end the issue forever.”
“Six or seven months is a long time, Breckenridge.” Cole reminded me. “A lot can happen in that time and if people start believing her, it won’t matter what the paternity test says, they’ll still believe it’s your kid.”
“I know.” I said with a shrug. “That’s where calling her a slut comes into play. Enough people believe she’s a slut and nothing she says will stick, and every guy who has ever fucked her will go scurrying for cover and repeat that she’s a slut just to keep people from thinking it might be theirs.”
“Breckenridge, I’m never going to play poker with you.” He said with a laugh after thinking what I’d said over. “You’re ruthless.”
“When I have to be, I can be.” I said with a slight smile that I knew looked wicked on me and he shivered visibly. “I’ve learned from the best.”
“Who is that?” He asked and I shrugged, realizing I really shouldn’t have said that last part. I’d learned ruthlessness from Davey Jones, but a different Davey Jones than the one he knew. When I didn’t answer, he changed subjects. “Have you given thought to what you might be doing to this baby before it’s even born? Maybe about how your rumor campaign might affect it’s life?”
“Nothing I could do would make it any worse for a kid born into that conniving bunch that Marcie calls a family.” I said angrily.
“You have a point.” Cole agreed with a nod. “It’s getting close to time for school to start.”
“Thanks for the talk, coach.” I said as I stood up to leave.
“Not a problem.” Cole said dismissively as I left his office and wondered if I could find Davey before first period.
Davey managed to elude me most of the day, mostly because I kept on getting stopped by people to ask if it was true that I’d gotten Marcie pregnant. Most of them had reacted with shock at the blunt way I called her a slut and until the baby was born God was the only one who could possibly know whose kid it really was. Her little brother confronted me at lunchtime, furious that I was calling his sister a slut, and probably more upset that so many people believed that claim.
Before he could take a swing at me, Brandon and Trevor had restrained him and I walked away before a teacher could notice. He didn’t bother me after that, and my friends were chuckling at the way the rumors were spreading like wildfire. Marcie had fired her salvo, trying to pin her pregnancy on me, but the day wasn’t even half over before people were starting to form betting pools on who the real father was. During the last P.E. period, I heard Adam turn to Davey and ask him who he was betting for the real father of Marcie’s baby. Davey’s face was a look in priceless shock when he didn’t hear my name on the list at all.
“What about Brian?” Davey asked in a sharp tone and a scathing look at me. “Didn’t he sleep with her too?”
“Yeah, but he’s probably the only one smart enough to use a condom with a slut like that.” Adam laughed and Davey looked at me with a calculating look.
“Your mom said you wanted to talk to them and me after school.” Davey said later, during a slow moment in baseball practice.
“I’d like to, yes.” I said softly, not wanting to say anything that could upset him at this point.
“Do you think the kid’s yours?” He asked me icily.
“I know it’s not.” I said with conviction.
“How do you know that?” He asked.
“My parents deserve to hear it at the same time as you, and you deserve to hear it at the same time they do.” I told him with a voice that quivered a bit. “You’re just as important to me as they are.”
“Am I?” Davey asked and I nodded.
“I’ll be there.” He said and walked off while I breathed a sigh of relief. Davey followed me home from practice, and I was in such a hurry that I didn’t even bother to change out of my practice uniform before taking off. Davey had to hurry to catch up before I pulled out of the parking lot, and I noticed him watching my butt as I walked to my car. I’d had these particular practice pants since I was a freshman, and they were tight on me. It’d be a cold day in hell before I admitted to him that I’d worn them today on purpose, knowing how he liked looking at me in tight clothes.
Dad was home as we pulled up, having stayed in Modesto and worked from home most of the day. Mom was there and while she frowned at the fact that I hadn’t changed, she noted that I was at least carrying my cleats instead of wearing them inside. I took just enough time to put them up in my room before hurrying back to the living room and sitting down on the towel she’d put on the couch. My uniform wasn’t that dirty, but it wasn’t worth mentioning at this point.
“Davey, thanks for being here.” I said to Davey first, who was sitting on the far end of the couch but looking at me steadily while my parents sat on the loveseat and watched me. “Mom, Dad, first off I should thank you too for supporting me in this. It’s not over yet, and it won’t be until we get that… that girl to take a paternity test. The really good news is that when we get that paternity test we’ll be out of this mess.”
“You’re sure about that?” Mom asked with concern in her voice.
“I am now.” I assured her. “One of Marcie’s former friends told me in secret that the day she broke up with me, after the last time we – we had intercourse – Marcie was having her period and borrowed a pad from her. There’s no way the baby could be mine.”
“Could this girl be lying to you?” Dad asked.
“She could, but I doubt that’s the case.” I answered. “She has no reason to lie to me, it’s not helpful to Marcie, and well, she also let it slip that Marcie’s little brother was threatening her if she told anyone. It seems like Marcie’s entire family is in on this.”
“I’ve taken two calls from her father today, and the last time he threatened to burn our house down if we don’t make you marry her.” Dad said with a frown. “I am so glad to hear there’s no real chance the kid’s yours. The thought of there being any relation between us and them is distasteful. Now that you’re certain, I’m going to report his threats to the police.”
“You are?” Davey asked with a raised eyebrow as he scooted a little closer to me on the couch. I think no one missed that gesture, and Mom smiled.
“Of course I am.” Dad said with a shake of his head. “If they are threatening my family, I’ll take whatever steps I can to protect them, including calling the police.”
“You want to be careful with that.” Davey said sadly. “Sometimes, when you do that, the press can get involved. Maybe I shouldn’t spend so much time here, if they get wind of my name and threats against you, they’d definitely jump on the story and I don’t want to put you folks through that. You’ve done too much for me as it is.”
“You’re going nowhere young man.” Dad said firmly and with a hint of anger in his voice. “If that happens, we’ll deal with it but I won’t run you off because of a possibility of a story or two in the local rag.”
“You don’t know what it’s like.” Davey murmured, but he also looked relieved that dad was insisting he stay.
“Davey, we know you and your family well enough now to have some idea.” Mom said while meeting his gaze. “We’re not worried about that. We can deal with it, and we’re not ashamed of you, or of Brian.”
“Nor would we be ashamed of either of you, or both of you, if that ever came out either.” Dad said and Davey’s hiss of indrawn breath filled the room and he looked at me with terror in his eyes while Dad actually laughed. So did Mom, and Davey started to relax when he realized they weren’t mocking him, or us. I reached out and took his hand, and at first he resisted, but when I persisted he exhaled and gripped my hand with a death grip.
“Believe me when I say we’d rather have you as part of our family than the alternatives.” Mom said and then she frowned. “That didn’t come out quite right. I wouldn’t want you to think I was comparing you to that… girl. There is no comparison, really. For starters, we actually like you whether you’re a part of Brian’s life or not.”
“How did you know?” He asked in a weak voice and his hand was shaking as it grasped mine so tightly it hurt. He relaxed a bit as I moved my hands so that our fingers were entwined in a more comfortable grip.
“Next time you spend the night in Brian’s room, you should open the window and air out the room.” Dad laughed and Mom blushed, although Davey’s cheeks were rosier than hers.
“I don’t think we’ll… I mean… oh fuck, I give up.” Davey murmured and Dad laughed. “You know my parents would be having fits at just the thought and I’m here holding Brian’s hand and you’re laughing at us! It’s not fair! I’m not prepared for this!”
“Would you rather we tried to break you up?” Mom asked through her laughter.
“No.” Davey said softly as he squeezed my hand and turned to look at me before sliding closer to me, close enough to lean against me. “Are we still together after the way I just ran out on you when you probably needed me?”
“Don’t worry about that.” I assured him. “You’re here now.”
“Yes, well do we have anymore to discuss or should I start dinner?” Mom asked and I let out a sigh of my own.
“You better order a pizza or Chinese.” I told her and she frowned. “That was the easy stuff to discuss.”
“The easy stuff?” Dad asked with a hint of horror in his voice and he frowned at my nod. “If that’s the easy stuff, I think maybe we should wait until after we eat.”
“No.” I said with a hint of pleading in my voice. “If you make me wait, I think I’ll lose my nerve to tell you, all of you?”
“Brian, don’t tell me you’ve killed someone.” Mom said with genuine horror in her voice.
“No mom, I haven’t killed anyone in the last fifty years.” I assured her, and transitioned into the real purpose of this little family meeting. “I didn’t have a choice then; the Iraqis had attacked our convoy and were trying to take hostages. Davey was the one who picked up a rifle from a fallen Iraqi Army soldier and started fighting back. I just followed his lead.”
“You’re not making any sense.” Dad said with a wild look in his eyes while Davey stared at me like I’d gone crazy. “What are you saying?”
“Don’t tell me you’re another Mr. Shelton.” Davey groaned, referencing a seventh grade World History teacher at La Loma. Deranged Mr. Shelton believed in reincarnation and would launch into fanciful stories about having lived through the Black Death in medieval Europe.
“No, I’m not talking about reincarnation.” I answered Davey while my parents were starting to look like I’d cracked and gone insane on them. “Although, the more I think about it, reincarnation is damn close, except it’s not being reborn into a whole new life, except in this case it kind of is, but not really.”
“Brian, you’re not making sense.” Dad said sternly. “What are you going on about?”
“Mr. Shelton was a teacher at La Loma.” Davey started to explain.
“I remember the man.” Dad said sharply. “I’m asking what the hell it is Brian’s trying to tell us and failing at so miserably.”
“Sorry, it’s really complicated and I’m nervous.” I said in all honesty and realized my hand was shaking slightly in Davey’s. He squeezed it in a comforting gesture and I relaxed a bit. These were my parents and Davey. I’d planned this out while I tossed and turned last night, I knew how to approach this logically, I just needed to calm down.
“Why don’t you start at the beginning, then?” Dad suggested and I nodded, taking a deep breath and preparing to begin.
“The bottom line of the story is that time travel is more than just possible, it’s a reality.” I said in a much calmer breath, ignoring the looks of continued confusion on their faces or the hiss of indrawn breath from Davey. He’d always been a fan of science fiction and was probably better suited to understanding this than my parents. “In the year 2004 of the original timeline, which is this time we’re in right now, a scientist conducted an experiment that would send the memories, the consciousness if you will, of a person back in time to his younger self.”
“And you’re this time traveler.” Davey asked, grasping the idea and for the moment at least, he appeared to be withholding his disbelief. My parents were looking at me like I was crazy.
“No, that first time traveler was you, Davey.” I told him and his eyes widened and he looked at me like I was crazy.
“I don’t remember anything about the future.” He said quietly.
“No you wouldn’t, because we jammed that before it could happen.” I stated. “The thing you have to understand about time travel is that cause and effect can happen simultaneously, or effect preceding cause. In this case, when I came back in time, it was 2054 and we sent a signal that jammed any other transmission that would send a person’s memories back in time.”
“Huh?” Dad asked with wide eyes and an incredulous expression.
“Are you trying to say you’re eighty-five years old?” Mom asked in a breathy voice.
“No, I have the memories of eighty-five years of life in another timeline, but it’s a very different timeline than this one.” I said.
“Let’s go back to the beginning on this.” Dad said in an exasperated voice.
“It all started in 2004 of this timeline.” I repeated. “A scientist in Livermore built the first working time machine and he tested it out on a man named Davey Jones. Davey traveled back in time, or at least his memories and consciousness traveled back in time, and he woke up in his twelve-year old body on August 1st of 1981.”
“This is for real, not a joke?” Dad demanded and I nodded. His sat back in the loveseat and weakly waved a hand for me to on.
“Davey thought something had gone wrong with the experiment.” I continued. “He had been told he’d only be able to see events from his young perspective. Instead he found he was in full control of his body, and as days turned into weeks, he realized that he was there to stay. At first he tried to keep from changing anything, but on the first day of the seventh grade he ended up becoming friends with a guy named Brian Breckenridge and two others named Brandon and Trevor.”
“You weren’t friends with him back then.” Mom said astutely.
“Not in the original timeline, but when he went back in time and made the first change, Davey created a new timeline, what we call Timeline Two.” I explained and she nodded almost as if she was following this explanation. Davey was getting it from the look in his eyes.
“I bet I tried to stop my dad from molesting my sister.” Davey said in a weak voice.
“That was one of the modest goals that Davey set when he realized he could change the timeline without destroying the universe.” I agreed. “Along the way it was discovered that other time travelers had come back in time and the government found out about Davey.”
“Oh shit, I bet that wasn’t good.” Davey said stolidly and Dad shook his head.
“What’d they do?” Mom asked as she leaned forward.
“Fortunately for Davey, he’d made good friends, and one of those friend’s father had good connections.” I continued. “You see, Mr. Rush, Trevor’s father, he’s not really what he seems.”
“Is he another time traveler?” Dad asked.
“No, he’s a Soviet defector.” I said and Dad’s eyes widened while mother covered her mouth with a hand.
“You’re kidding!” Mom gasped.
“No, I’m serious, although I guess you could try to confirm that.” I said with a shrug. “I don’t know how they’d react in this timeline, but eventually it becomes more public knowledge after the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
“The Soviet Union collapses?” Dad asked in shock and I chuckled. Davey had said that was the one fact that always made the biggest impact on people in the 1980’s. No one thought the massive juggernaut that was the evil Soviet Union could possibly collapse in on itself like it had so many times in history.
“It did in the original timeline and several other timelines except the one where they went to war to keep it from happening.” I said.
“How many of these timelines are there?” Davey asked.
“This would be Timeline Four if you counted just the timelines created by Davey Jones going back in time.” I answered and he looked surprised. “Most of us call it Timeline Five though because Sean Rule came back to save Davey at the end of Timeline Two when the Soviets sank his ship during that timeline’s World War Three.”
“What?” Mom nearly shrieked.
“I know that name.” Davey said with a frown. “Didn’t he go to school with us?”
“Mighty convenient.” Dad said skeptically.
“Sean’s the one who picked Davey as a test subject in the first experiment.” I explained and Dad shook his head. “Two other men went back into that first Timeline. One of them was the scientist who created the device, but he died in an accident. The other was a pro-Soviet Russian who wanted to keep the Soviet Union from collapsing. He almost succeeded, but he was forced into open warfare against the United States. By that time, Davey was a known time traveler, at least by President Reagan and his close advisors. He fought in the Navy during that Timeline’s World War Three. At first, he died when his ship sunk, but Sean Rule came back in time to help him.”
“How did that happen if the timeline changed when that Davey went back?” Mom asked and I was surprised at how intuitively she understood this.
“The time machine creates a bubble in sub-space that lasts as long as the time machine has power.” I answered her question. “Sean Rule was the last person alive in that bubble and he used the machine’s last bit of power to go back far enough in time to warn the President, who issued orders that saved the original Davey Jones from death and ended World War Three.”
“That would deserve a ‘and they lived happily ever after, but they didn’t, did they?” Mom asked and I smiled.
“Davey and that timeline’s Brian lived together as a couple for a long time.” I half-answered her question as Davey squeezed my hand. There was a small smile on his face.
“So what happened next?” Dad asked as he leaned forward, looking interested.
“In Timeline Two’s 2004, a war broke out with mainland China and Taiwan.” I continued my story and was relieved that they were at least listening instead of calling for the men with the straight jackets. “Admiral Davey Jones led US naval forces in the area to a crushing defeat of the attempted Chinese invasion, but the entire war was a diversion. They had kidnapped Sean Rule, the only person who had a working knowledge of how to build a time machine and used him to complete their own time machine. They held his partner, Brandon Walker, and Davey Jones’s partner Brian, hostage. Davey led a SEAL team into the facility but he was too late to stop a Chinese agent from going back in time. He was mortally wounded in the gunfight and went back in time again before he died from his wounds.”
“Jesus, it’s like a good sci-fi story.” Davey commented uneasily. “I’m not sure who you think I am but that Davey Jones sounds a bit like Superman.”
“No, he wasn’t Superman.” I said with a fond smile on my face. “He was just damn close to the real thing. He knew what he thought was right and he fought for it tooth and nail, and he was damn smart. You have to remember, by that 2004 he had over six decades of life experience behind him but he was only in his early thirties.”
“That would be… interesting.” Dad said softly.
“Hold on just a minute while I get us some food.” Mom said standing quickly and we sat in silence, just staring at each other until she returned with a tray of fruit, cheeses, and crackers as well as a pitcher of ice tea and four glasses. While everyone munched down, I continued the story, taking them through what I knew of that horrible timeline, Timeline Three and its ending in nuclear annihilation of most of the Earth.
“It’s like a love story.” Mom said with tears bristling in her eyes when I recounted the death of my other self from that timeline. I had to agree with her, it was both supremely tragic and awful sweet at the same time.
“It’s a sick love story.” Dad said, but he was smirking a bit. “So our intrepid hero Davey Jones goes back once more, right? Does his trusty sidekick Sean go back too?”
“Yeah, he does, after a fashion.” I said with a smile at that description of Sean who no one here except Davey had ever met. “This time, Davey ended up back in 1976 instead of the early 1980’s.”
“Wait, before or after we moved back from Florida?” Davey said with excitement.
“After, but boy did Davey make some changes in that timeline.” I continued. “His seven-year old body couldn’t handle the memories of an adult nearly a hundred, so the brain began to shut down after a short while. Before it did, he really made some big-ass changes.”
“Like what?” Davey asked with a light in his eyes.
“He got his grandfather to place a few key bets, winning a heck of a lot of money.” I said. “He used that to manipulate his dad into giving up preaching and running for the State Assembly.”
“You’re kidding!” Davey exclaimed.
“No, and for a while Davey went into a coma while his brain returned to its normal seven-year old function, but Davey had set up a system where he was able to warn key people about big problems that were coming up.” I continued with a wistful expression on my face. “Some of those changes included an early warning about AIDS, and it saved Uncle Rich’s life.”
“Oh my.” Mom said as tears came to her eyes and Dad put a comforting hand on her leg. She leaned into him for a bit of support.
“Yes, well, eventually Davey’s brain matured enough that his ‘older’ self woke up again, and he set more changes into place.” I continued. “His father went from a member of the California Assembly to a member of the President’s cabinet and ended up the Secretary of Agriculture. Davey and Brian were friends for several years before they started dating.”
“And dad, he never…” Davey’s voice faltered, unable to speak the question.
“No, Davey’s sister was never molested, and she ended up being a fighter pilot in the Air Force and one of the highest ranking female combat veterans in the history of the Armed Forces.” I answered and he shook his head in disbelief before a smile appeared on his face.
“It sounds like paradise.” Davey whispered.
“I haven’t even mentioned that David Jones Sr. eventually became President in that timeline, the timeline I was born in.” I said softly and Dad snorted in disbelief.
“You almost had me going there, Brian.” Dad said. “You should write this down and sell it.”
“I’m being serious, dad.” I said. “I was born in that timeline, Timeline Four.”
“Then why are you here now?” Mom asked and I smiled sadly. “I assume you and that super-Davey lived a long happy life together?”
“We did, with two kids, half a dozen grandkids and dozens of great-grandkids.” I answered and Davey squeezed my hand at those words.
“We had a family together?” Davey asked and I smiled at him.
“I told you it was possible the other night.” I reminded him and he nodded after a moment.
“So what happened?” Mom asked.
“Terrorists, probably a Dhu Ghal branch from Ireland managed to get a dirty bomb into Washington D.C.” I answered her question and she looked confused. “That’s a super-long story, but Dhu Ghal was an Irish separatist movement that started after the European Common cracked down on member states. The United States helped them at first, giving them weapons because the EC was trashing the US economy. Then they reached an agreement with the EC and they abandoned Dhu Ghal. When that happened, Dhu Ghal decided to teach the US a lesson and set off a dirty bomb they’d gotten from our country. Washington D.C. was irradiated by deadly amounts of radiation, poisoning most of Congress.
“Every President since David Jones Sr. had been made aware of Project Do Over. Davey and Sean had built a time machine, just in case it was ever needed, and President White authorized a Do Over. Sean and I, the only two with the codes who could activate the machine used it to do two things.”
“What happened to me, to the Davey who’d gone back all those other times, I mean.” Davey asked and I sighed.
“He had a stroke before the bomb went off and couldn’t help out.” I said feeling the grief at that memory well up inside of me, and my voice shook as I spoke. The comforting grip of his hand reassured me though and I blinked away the tears from my eyes. “I loved him, but he couldn’t help, so I went with Sean to activate the time machine. The first thing we did was set off a jamming device that Sean and Brandon came up with over the years. It effectively wiped out the other time travelers and reset the timeline to the original one, the one that would have progressed if time travel had never been invented.”
“Then why did you come back?” Dad asked with his eyebrows furrowed. “It seems to me if you took the trouble to undo time travel you’d have left it at that.”
“It seems terrorism is a bigger threat than we had imagined.” I said and Dad’s frown deepened.
“Then why come back this far again?” Mom asked.
“To give me time to think about the problem, and work towards a fix.” I explained. “It’s not something that can change with just a bit of knowledge, but it’s going to take a lifetime, at least, so we went as far back as we had the power to go. I’m sorry Davey, I’d have come back further to stop what happened to your sister if I could.”
“I believe that.” Davey said simply, and his trust bolstered my confidence.
“What happened to the Brian of this timeline?” Dad asked and I sighed. This was the question I feared the most.
“When I came back, his memories were overwritten in favor of mine.” I said.
“But you are our son, our Brian.” Mom asked.
“Yes and no.” I answered. “You see, much of this timeline, it’s very similar to Davey’s original timeline, although now there are differences since I came back. In that original timeline, Davey and Brian were never friends. I’m pretty sure the original Brian married Marcie and had kids with her. Our lives were mostly the same though, except for the time that Davey struck me out in little league when we were real young, and then later when we became friends in junior high. That never happened here, of course.”
“This is confusing.” Dad said simply, but he looked me in the eyes for several minutes before continuing. “You are, but you aren’t quite our son is what you’re saying. It wasn’t you who dated and… and slept with Marcie.”
“That’s correct.” I answered.
“I think we need some time to think this over.” Dad said softly and I stood up.
“You should know, there are some differences in the parents I knew from the last timeline and you, but there aren’t many. You’re as much my parents as they were, and I’m as much your son as the Brian who was here before I came back that night in January. I think you can figure out which night it was.” I said in a rush.
“That’s one thing I understand about this.” Dad said softly. “Just give us a few minutes, please, son?”
“Okay, dad.” I said with a sigh of relief that he still thought of me as his son. Davey followed me as I went to my bedroom, and he shut the door behind me. I was too scared to turn around and look in his eyes. That wasn’t necessary, though, because he stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around me, his hands rubbing my crotch through my practice pants.
“Dude, that’s some fucking story.” He said as he nibbled on my neck.
“What are you doing?” I asked him with a little surprise.
“Taking advantage of your old ass.” Davey joked and I turned around in his grasp with surprise writ in large letters across my face.
“You’re not…you’re not like grossed out or anything?” I asked him with surprise. When I’d been in his shoes it had taken me days to adjust to this news.
“Dude, we’re like star-crossed lovers who chase each other across time.” Davey said with a wicked smile as he pecked at my lips. “If there’s anything that could be more fucking romantic or reassuring that we’re meant to be, I don’t know what it could possibly be. It’s like after hearing that story I know we’re meant to be together and I could care less who knows. Do you know how hot you look dressed like this? You drove me fucking crazy all afternoon and now, now I just don’t care. It’s like I can say whatever I want because nothing can come between us and I know this is what we’re meant to be, together.”
“Kiss me.” I growled, not quite understanding his logic, but agreeing we were meant to be together. In another time, it had taken me days to realize that very same thing. Once again, Davey had proven just how much smarter than he was than I.
He was also one hell of a kisser, I realized yet again as I came perilously close to an orgasm just from him kissing me. Nothing else really mattered in the end, I was here, with Davey, and together nothing could stop us.
Nothing.
This story brought to you by a lot of hard editing from Emoe, and
beta-reading by Trebs.
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