2.33 Shattered Dreams

"Here ye, here ye!" Ambrose called out.  "All those who are important must come to my bed chamber immediately!"

"Are you doing this again?" Apollo rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"

"Bow down lowly peasant!" He pointed his cardboard scepter at Apollo.

"Kings are supposed to be nice to their subjects."

"Fine, whatever. Just sit down and listen, I have an announcement," Ambrose answered impatiently.

"Make it quick your highness, this peasant has somewhere to be."

"Tis' officially summer vacation! Wooooo!" Ambrose cheered.

"Seriously, that's it?"

"No, there's more! We will be spending my birthday at the Summer festival! Be there or be square."

"Did you ask mom yet?"

"She said I can do whatever I want for my birthday. Now that you're mad at Katherine, you'll actually come to my party!"

"Stop talking about that,"Apollo grumbled and left the room.

"Why are you wearing that?" Caleb laughed at breakfast. "I thought you were king yesterday."

"I'm king everyday," Ambrose shrugged.

"Yeah, you're a royal pain in the butt," Apollo smirked.

"Hey, don't make me uninvite you to my party!"

"You can't uninvite him to your party, Ambrose. That's not cool," Caleb scolded.

"I don't want to go anyway, so he can uninvite me. It's fine."

"What about our surprise from mom?" Ambrose grinned devilishly. Apollo raised his brow in response.

"Your surprise is actually coming tonight!" Leia called into the kitched. "So, make sure you at least start your summer homework or you're not going to get it."

"What if it's not that good?" Ambrose asked. "I don't want to do my homework for no reason!"

"Shut up, she got us a gift, don't be so rude." 

"Yeah, but I hate homework!" Ambrose whined.

Apollo turned to Caleb, "So, do you know what the surprise is?"

"Of course I do."

"Are you going to tell us?" Ambrose pushed.

"Of course not, now go and eat your breakfast so you can have some fun before being forced to do your homework," Caleb said before leaving the room.

You could tell how much Ambrose loathed school work just from looking at his face as he sat next to Apollo. Leia always thought that Apollo was a genius like his father. He never really had problems doing his homework or studying. In fact, he hated when somebody offered him help, because he knew he could do it on his own, even if not at first. Leia hat thrown out the idea of being a doctor to Apollo many times but he didn't seem too interested. He still didn't know what he wanted to do. He flipped page after page while Ambrose was still on the first page.

"Hey Apollo?"

"What?"

"So if I subtract 3/5 and 3/7, do I get 0/2?"

Apollo looked at his brother with a look of shock. "You can't be serious. You're pulling my leg right?"

"Uh yeah..." Ambrose said, embarrassed. He scratched the back of neck nervously. Math was never his strong suit, especially not fractions, but he never asked for help in fear of looking stupid.

"Here, let me check over your work," Apollo offered.

"No, it's ok!" Ambrose held the paper to his chest tightly.

"Don't you want them all to be right?"

"It's ok. I'm fine with just a C. I don't need A's like you."

"You should want better for yourself. Mom works so hard for us, we have to do good in school." Ambrose had wanted to, but what would the others think of him if he raised his hand and got an answer wrong? He was the class clown, and normally wouldn't mind the attention, but his brother was always being talked about. He couldn't live in his brother's shadow. He wouldn't be ridiculed for his lack of knowledge if he could help it.

"I said I'm fine!" Ambrose snapped.

Apollo looked at his brother with a face of worry. His normally boisterous personality was replaced by anger and defense. Was it homework causing this stress or school in general?

Outside, Noah was sweating. It was ten years since he stood in front of this house, but it looked exactly the same. He fixed the collar of his shirt. Did he look ok? What would his boys think? Would they be shocked, excited, scared? Noah took a step back. This was a bad idea, he had a terrible feeling. He was about to turn around and leave when Leia caught sight of him through the window. She opened the door quickly and pulled him in. "Noah!" She whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" He whispered back.

"I want it to be a surprise for the boys..." She pointed towards the kitchen.

"They don't know?" The look of panic spread over his face once again. "Leia...you should have warned them..."

"Don't worry about it..." She whispered. "It'll be a little awkward but that's it."

Noah couldn't stop the gnawing feeling from hitting him in the pit of his stomach. He was so nervous. He'd be seeing Apollo again and even more nerve wrecking, meeting Ambrose for the first time. It bothered him how nonchalant Leia was being about all of this, when usually she was different.  "Leia..." 

She pressed her lips to his forcefully. He was taken aback, his head began swirling. This was supposed to be going differently. 

"Noah...?" She asked, just as confused as he was. "Please don't tell me...please don't tell me that you....Noah please...."

"Leia..." He held on to her arm. "I love you more than anything in the world. You and our kids were the only things on my mind in jail. Don't ever forget that. I waited ten years to kiss you again." He held her face in his hands and kissed her tenderly. She melted under his touch. 

"I just...I need time to adjust, and get used to things. In ten years, you've built a life without me, so I need to gradually let myself back in." Noah told her once he pulled away.

"When you say it like that it sounds horrible. I want you in our lives so much...I need you here. They don't know it yet, but Apollo and Ambrose need you too..."

The moment was broken up by Ambrose's voice. He was standing in the kitchen. "Mom!"

"Yes sweetheart?" She called back.

"Are there any more cookies left?"

"Top shelf, to the left of the crackers!" Leia answered. 

"Thanks."

"Honey, wait...there's someone I want you to meet."

Ambrose turned around and in front of him was the man in all of the photographs. 

"Who are you?" Ambrose lowered his eyes. He knew but he wanted to see how Noah would handle the pressure. 

"Ambrose, this is your father."

"Father?" Ambrose almost laughed. "I don't have a father, I never had one and I don't need one."

Leia was shocked, she knew the boys would need time to adjust to Noah's sudden presence, but she somehow thought it would be going better than this. 

Noah, who was quiet the whole time decided to speak up. "I've been gone a really long time and I know that, but I didn't do it on purpose. Your mother told me all about you, and I just couldn't wait to meet you in person."

"Thanks mom." Ambrose rolled his eyes.

"Ambrose please give him a chance," Leia begged.

"The only guys I need in my life are Uncle Caleb and Apollo!" Ambrose snapped. "They were there for all of my birthdays, and every time I was in a talent how they were in the audience. They're my best friends, I don't need anyone else. I have them and Mom. We don't need you so just leave!" Ambrose shouted. 

"Ambrose!" Leia yelled at him. It was the first time she ever raised her voice at her son. She didn't believe in it, but she felt her control slowly slipping from her grasp. She didn't know what to do.

Ambrose turned to his mother, a look of hurt and betrayal written all over his face. He shot one more menacing glance towards Noah and stomped out of the room. 

Noah turned towards Leia and apologized. He handed her flowers he was holding in his bag. "I figured these would come in handy..."

"Noah...stop. Don't apologize. I need to apologize. I didn't know Ambrose would freak out like that. He's never been like that. I thought he would be excited to see you.  I thought that everyone would be as excited as I am to see you, but I keep forgetting that they don't share the same bond with you as I do. I forget that you're a complete stranger to Ambrose and it's going to take some time for him to adjust and I'm so sorry." She threw her arms around his torso. "I'm so sorry."

"Leia, I know you meant well, and I appreciate it. But Ambrose is hurt and I understand that. I'm going to leave now and give him some space. I think I want to lay low for awhile."

"Noah...no. We've been apart for so long!"

"I can't just come back and get in bed with you like it's no big deal. I can't live here with you until the boys can accept and tolerate me. I refuse to make them feel uncomfortable."

Noah kissed her goodbye and began to leave. 

"What about Apollo? You haven't even met him, or said hi to Caleb yet."

Noah shook his head. "I can't. Not yet."

"Come to Ambrose' birthday celebration. We're going to the summer festival."

"He doesn't want to see me, especially not on his birthday." 

"The four of us are going out together. The summer festival is public to everyone, so what if you just bump into us?"

"I don't want to skirt around it. If it means that much to you for me to come, I'll meet here on his birthday and I'll bring him an amazing gift to win him over." Noah kissed Leia one last time before leaving. "I really want to see Apollo again too."

2.32 Puppy Love

"Hello Mrs. Gray," Katherine Grantham smiled. She looked over to Lorie, "You're Apollo's aunt right? He told me you were coming over today."

"Yes, that would be me, the cool aunt," Lorie commented.

"How was your vacation Katherine?" Leia asked.

"It was fun, but I still wish I could have been at Apollo's party."

"We missed you, but don't worry, Apollo will have other birthdays. Besides, how often do family vacations come along?" Leia smiled.

"That's true. Is Apollo upstairs?"

Leia nodded, "He's playing games as always, just go on up. He's expecting you."

"Thank you Mrs. Gray."

When she was out of earshot, Lorie turned to Leia. "She's quite the little bundle of joy isn't she?"

"I absolutely adore her. I couldn't be happier for Apollo to have a friend like her. She is so respectful and cares about what happens to Apollo."

"I'm hearing wedding bells," Lorie joked.

"Don't say that to Apollo, he gets mad every time Caleb and I joke about that." Leia smiled. "But, if Apollo married a good person like that, I'd say my parenting was a success."

"Hey Apollo. happy late birthday," Katherine grinned.

"Thanks K. How was your trip?"

"Kind of boring. I mean, I used to love going with my parents, but I'm getting too old to be following them around across the world. I wanted to spend my saturday at your party."

"It was just one day without me," Apollo joked. "Besides, you'll miss your parents one day."

"You miss your dad, huh?" She asked suddenly.

Apollo's hand tensed around the controller. "Is it that obvious? Of course I do, but it's weird. I keep asking myself how I can miss someone I barely remember. I see pictures of me and him all around the house, but I haven't seen him since I was a toddler. I know what he looks like, but how does he talk? Did he used to call me anything special? What did we do together?"

"Did you tell this to your mom? She probably has the answer to the last few questions."

"She tells me stories about him all the time, but I won't really believe it until I experience it first hand. What if he isn't this wonderful person she tells me about?"

Katherine paused the game and looked at Apollo. "Why wouldn't he be? You're pretty awesome, and you're a product of both of your parents."

Apollo let out a  long sigh. "He's in jail. My mother makes it look so much less severe than it is, but I keep thinking, if he wasn't a bad guy, how could he get so many years in prison? Ten years K. You don't get that kind of time if you're a good person."

"Well maybe it was a misunderstanding," She suggested.

"I dunno," He looked away sheepishly. He was happy to have someone like Katherine he could talk to. It sometimes felt nauseating hearing the biased opinions of his uncles, aunts, grandparents and mother. "Let's get back to the game."

"K?" Apollo asked a little bit later. "What's up? You never suck this bad at Alien Invasion."

"Oh, uhm I don't know, I haven't been practicing recently."

"You do realize that sounds ridiculous right? You have good gamer skills, you don't have to practice." Apollo shook his head.

She dropped the controller and looked at Apollo. "I want to ask you something. But, just promise to let me finish before you interrupt okay?"

"Go ahead."

"You know about the dance coming up right?" Apollo didn't answer. "Apollo!"

"What? You said not to interrupt," he smirked.

"You know what I meant."

"Ok, ok. The dance for incoming freshmen to meet each other. The mock prom. I know about it."

"Well, the incoming freshmen are mostly kids we went to middle school with, so it's not really going to be about meeting each other. It'll probably be an emphasis on the mock prom thing." She began to blush. "Do you want to go with me?"

"Ugggh!" Apollo complained. Mock prom? He would have to rent a suit and Katherine would have to get a dress and wear makeup. His mother would freak out and take tons of pictures even though the real prom would come up again. They'd have fake prom kings and queens, because how can you vote for other freshmen you don't know yet? He'd much rather be home playing some games and not dealing with the high school drama before it even started. "You know how I feel about those things."

"It'll be fun, everyone is going to be there. Even Tommy and John are going. Who are you going to play online with if they're going to the dance?"

Apollo pondered it for a minute. "Theres a such thing as single player games. You're going to have to do better than that."

"Well, why don't you want to go?"

"Are you serious? It's going to be all formal and awkward." Apollo fake shivered. "Disgusting."

"But, I'll be there so it will be less awkward!"

He let out a breath. "I'll go on one condition."

"Anything."

"I don't know yet, but you'll owe me one. We'll go as friends." Katherine nodded but still seemed a bit off.  "Can we play again? Hello! Earth to K!" He waved his hand in front of her face.

"I don't want to go as only friends." She was sick and tired of Apollo only seeing her as one of the guys. She was a girl, but she felt like he blatantly ignored that. She didn't wear makeup or wear dresses, but she wanted to be more girly during high school. She didn't want to blend in the background anymore. Why couldn't he see that?

"What do you mean? You want to go as, like a couple?"

She looked away nervously. This was harder than she thought. She had practiced this in the car the entire ride home, her parents thought she was nuts!

"Yes. I don't want to be one of guys anymore. You don't even call me by my name ever. All you want to do is play video games with me. It's fun, but I like you a lot Apollo. I want to go to movies with you, without having Tommy or John tagging along. I don't know how to do any of this, but I want to try it."

Before Apollo could defend himself, Katherine leaned in towards his face hesitantly and pressed her lips against his. She was young, but everyone else around her had boyfriends. She wanted to go into high school with someone by her side. She felt nervous around him often, and she didn't understand it until she heard some girls talking about how they had crushes on boys. Could she have a crush on Apollo? She heard the way to figure it out was to see if there were "sparks" when she kissed him. She tried it, and though it was a bit weird, she kind of enjoyed it.

"What the heck Katherine?" He had finally used her first name, but this wasn't how she wanted to hear it.

"Apollo, I like you!"

"I don't like you like that! I don't want to be one of those guys paraded around the school. You just want some guy to brag  to all of the girls about!"

"No I don't, I like you! Showing you off is a bonus!" She failed at trying to flirt.

"You're supposed to be my best friend, don't take advantage of me like that!"

She didn't understand why he was getting so mad because she really did like him.  "Apollo, please...I'm sorry. I didn't know this would happen. I've never kissed anyone before, I didn't know what would happen. Please don't be mad at me, you're my best friend."

"You didn't know what you were doing, but you decided to kiss me anyway? That's so dumb, I don't want to be your test dummy. Just get out. I don't want to talk to you right now. I just wanted to play some video games today and you're already starting all of this drama."

"Apollo...." Katherine cried out again.

"Not now, just go home. I don't feel like dealing with this right now. I don't want a girlfriend, that's not important to me."

Katherine got up sadly and walked towards the door. She was so upset she didn't even say goodbye to Leia or Lorie.

"Damnit!" Apollo hit the couch angrily. Everything was going so well, until she ruined it. He wasn't supposed to be thinking about Katherine like that. She was supposed to be his rock, not the one causing the confusing feelings.

"Does your brother seem a bit upset?" Caleb asked at dinner. Apollo had decided to sit by himself in the kitchen rather than with Caleb, Apollo and Leia.

"Yeah..." Ambrose said in between bites of food. "He was mad after Katherine left."

"Does he like Katherine?"

"Of course he does, that's his best friend," Leia pointed out.

"You know what I mean, Lei."

"Mom, he means like a girlfriend. Apollo and Katherine sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Ambrose sang loudly.

"Shut up!" Apollo shouted back.

"Leave him alone Ambrose, he isn't feeling well," Leia scolded.

"Can't I eat in peace without somebody assuming I want to go out with Katherine!?" Apollo grumbled before storming out. "I'll be in my room where I don't have to hear you guys accusing me!"

"Teenagers," Ambrose said before digging into his grape pancakes once again.

"What do you know about teenagers?" Caleb grinned.

"That they get mad all the time. My friend Kylie said her cousin is a teenager and all she does is get mad at her parents."

"Don't ever be mean to mommy, okay?" Leia told him.

"I'm not a jerk like Apollo, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Hey now! Apollo is your brother. Do not be mean. Your family comes first mister." Leia wagged her finger at him.

"She's right, you know," Caleb told him.

"I know, I'm just joking."

Apollo wasn't any better the next day. "I hate being picked up first. I'm stuck with you for twenty minutes."

"Stop being a jerk because Katherine dumped you!" Ambrose told his older brother.

"You don't even know what happened." He lowered his eyes.

"I don't care, just stop being so mean."

"Whatever." He turned his head. He was so relieved there was only a week left until school finished and that his summer vacation was almost here. The dance was around mid-summer but he'd deal with that later. he didn't even want to think about Katherine. He wished there was a way to get her upset face out of his mind. Why did she have to ruin their perfect relationship? Why was she trying to mess up the one thing he held constant in his life?

"Apollo, did you do your homework?" Leia asked.

"There's only a week left, who cares?"

"I care. No son of mine is failing."

"I'm not going to fail Ma, leave me alone." Apollo shooed her away. 

"Leave you alone? I'm your mother, I can never leave you alone. Is something bothering you? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Look at me when I'm talking to you Apollo."

"I'm playing a game." He refused to look his mother in the eye.

"Stop playing and talk to me then. We can't fix anything if you don't tell me. I know this is about Katherine, I saw that she left pretty early and ever since she left you've been acting like a brat." Leia crossed her arms over her chest. 

"It's nothing, I'm just stressed."

"Stressed? You're fourteen!"

"I'm trying to play a game."

"Alright, whatever. But you better go do your homework," She told him before leaving the room.

The next day while the boys were at school, Leia approached Caleb. 

"I need your help."

"Apollo?"

"Yep, it's definitely about Katherine. I don't know anything about teenage boys. Please tell me what to do!" She begged. "I want my nice little boy back!"

"Well, I don't know what happened, and I don't think he'll tell me, so I have an idea. It's crazy but it may be an indirect way for him to open up to me. We can include Ambrose so he doesn't get suspicious." Caleb turned to Leia. 

"I hope that they're still friends." Leia frowned. "Katherine is so nice to him."

"When I was a teenager, I had a crush on this girl and she turned me down. I was such a jerk to my family for like a month." Caleb reminisced. "He probably has a crush on her and he doesn't know what to do."

"He doesn't trust his mother to talk to him though. I can totally help with this!" Leia pouted.

"It's nothing personal, but teenage boys hate going to their mothers for problems. They want to be all high and mighty and figure it out themselves. I'm just going to guide him in the right direction and let him figure out how he feels."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"When does he get home?"

"3:30."

"Alright, I have a few hours to think about it."

"I hope you think of something good. I don't want him to be so bitter when he enters high school."

"It's probably just a phase anyway. We fix his friendship and he'll be back to his old self," Caleb reassured her. 

"What exactly do you need help with?" Apollo asked skeptically.

"Online dating."

"How is that going to work? People will recognize you right away on the internet! They'll think it's a fake account and take it down."

Caleb frowned for a minute. He hadn't thought of that. "Okay, listen. I'm the cool uncle and so I'm going to level with you. I once had this huge crush on a girl, her name was Malissa. I was her tutor, she was older than me and she actually wanted to talk to me and hang out with me. It was so easy to fall for her. But then, she told me that I was too young for her. You can't be discouraged from one rejection. There will always be another girl."

"Okay? And why are you telling me this...it wouldn't have anything to do with mom talking to you would it?"  Apollo asked annoyed. 

"Of course it does Apollo. I can't sugarcoat it. You're too smart. Your mother is really worried. She's never seen you like this and right now you're the number one man in the house. She loves Ambrose so much, just as much as she loves you, but you're the one she can depend on. She's afraid that you aren't the same person anymore and she knows how much you and Katherine care about each other. You don't have to tell me anything that happened, but just listen. Family is the most important thing, and sometimes you meet a person who is a best friend and then they become family. Don't make the same mistake that I did and lose your best friend. Go ahead, look him up on the internet. Search Caleb Gray and Tim Levesque if you don't believe me." He looked at Apollo who was hesitant to answer. "Think about what I said, alright?"

In Another Time [Special]

The winner of the poll is...In Another Time:  The story of Emit and the twin's [Lorie and Leia's] mother. How did he meet this girl, who is she, and how did he fall head over heels in love with her?

Without further adieu, I present to you this very special chapter.

"I know you said you had some news you wanted to tell me in person, but so do I," Lorie told her sister. 

"Ok, then you go first!" Leia said excitedly. "Are you getting married?"

"You never let me go first...what's going on?" She looked at her sister skeptically.

"My news is huge, so I think it'll be the icing on the cake."

"My news is pretty big too..."

"What's your news about?"

"A dream I had."

"Nope, my news is definitely bigger." Leia shook her head.

"How old are you?" Lorie grumbled. Leia snickered and urged her sister to go on. "Ok, well last night I had a dream about mom. Not just any dream, it was like the time we got to speak to Emit."

"It's just a dream Lorie..." Leia began.

"No it wasn't! It was so vivid, I was watching her move around and I couldn't do anything but watch. It was about how she met dad and how we were born...mom didn't abandon us because she didn't want to, Leia!"

"Enough!" Leia shouted back. "It was only a dream!"

"Even so, shouldn't you just hear me out before you judge?"

"I..."Leia paused before letting the curiosity get the better of her. "Go ahead." 

Meet Cora Lyons, resident of Lucky Palms, up and coming architect. Well, she wanted to be an architect, but sadly she had to settle with an office job until she could make enough money to make some business cards to get her name out there. Work was scarce in Lucky Palms at the time. People were worried about how their next meal was going to get on the table, not how their house could be redecorated. Cora was living paycheck to paycheck but she was fortunate to get a secretary job that payed enough for her to survive with a few extra simoleons to play around with. Besides interior decorating, Cora loved fashion. She was always up to date on the trends of the time and she would never leave the house without make up on. 

 Cora lay motionless. Just minutes before, she saw a flashing blue light outside her window and a peculiar blue man. It was as if he had just appeared out of thin air. His clothes were lighting up as he walked and his blue hair stuck up in long spikes. It was strange . When he approached the house, Cora made a run for it. She figured if she hid, he wouldn't think anyone was home and she could formulate a plan. 

Tap. Tap. Tap She could hear him banging on the door. "I know somebody is in there, I can see the television's light!" He called out. 

"Crap..." She thought to herself. Cora lay silent for a few more moments until she heard nothing but the crickets chirping outside. She was about to slide out from her position when her arm was grabbed. 

"AHH!" She let out a blood curdling scream. 

"Hey! Be quiet!" He placed his hand over her mouth. 

She tried to stutter an appeal to the man but it only came out in muffles. "Who are you and why are you in my house?" The blue haired stranger asked.

When he released her she turned around angrily. "I should be asking you that! This is my house, who are you and how did you even get in? The door was bolted shut!"

"How did you get this house?" He ignored her questions.

She shrunk back in a frightened manner. "I bought it from the bank?" She looked at him as if he was insane, which she had every right to believe.

"The bank? Why did the bank have my house?" He asked mostly to himself. He heard Cora shuffle backwards and he looked at her sharply. "Where do you think you're going? You can't call the police on me, I have technology that can outsmart them easily."

"The police?" Cora laughed nervously. "I would never..." At least not while he was looking. This man was insane. His hair, his outfit, the way he spoke. All of it was nuts. "The bank had this house because it was abandoned by it's previous owner...if you wanted the house, you shouldn't have left it..."

"I don't care about this ugly house. I'm looking for a time portal. Have you seen it?"

Cora began to laugh. She had finally caught on with the stranger. There was only one way someone would call her house, of all the houses on the block, ugly. "I'm on some hidden camera prank show right? That flash of light was a bunch of special effects, you were able to get into the house because somebody gave you a key, and your outfit...you must have had a professional stylist dress you like that."

Emit sighed in annoyance. "No, this isn't some kind of joke. I'm from the future and this is my landing point. I have a time portal in each and every world that helps me keep track of everything happening in the timeline. I'm not even supposed to be telling you this, so I'll probably have to wipe your memory of it later. Listen, it's vital that I find that time portal, or else I can't monitor Lucky Palms."

Cora shook her head. "Ok, real funny, but I've got to wake up early for work tomorrow, so if you'd get out of my house..." Feeling confident that it was just a joke, she led the man to the door and forcefully pushed him out of her house. 

"Hey! Let me in!" He began to knock on the door furiously. "This is important. The fate of the future depends on this time portal!"

"Yeah, yeah. Film somewhere else. I've got work tomorrow." 

"I've already told you, I'm from the future!"

"Hey, you weirdo, go to bed before I call the cops!" One of the neighbors called from their window.

Emit, seeing as he was getting no response from Cora, and the inconvenience the cops would bring, he decided to leave for the night. He would be back to erase this girl's memories later on. For now, he had to lay low before the guardians found out about his mess up. He had broken two rules. One: He lost track of a time portal, making it impossible to track the time in Lucky Palms. Two: He told a human that he was a time traveler. Yes, she thought he was joking, but if Angel found out, he would be in serious trouble. 

Cora let out a long sigh. She was exhausted. She never really found out what was with that freaky guy from last night. Even though she was pretty sure it was some kind of joke, her anxieties kept her up all night. Now, sitting in front of the computer made her realize how tired she really was. Her eyes began to droop when her boss yelled out her.

"Cora!"

"Yes, sir? I wasn't sleeping, just resting my eyes!" She answered quickly.

"I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that. You have a visitor, he seems really important."

"A visitor?" Cora asked herself before feeling a hand on her shoulder. 

"You!" She lowered her eyes. "Here for another filming shot? Just tell me and I'll pose. It'll be easier for everyone."

"How dense are you, Cora Lyons?"

Well of course, he'd have to know her name. Someone must have sent it in. "Hmm, who set me up? Was it Barry? It was definitely Barry, he's such a jokester."

"Ok, I'm going to level with you here. Your boss isn't the nicest guy, is he?"

She turned around and eyed Emit. "He is not."

"Well, how would you like to skip work for today and help me find this time portal?"

She let out a long sigh. "Time portal? That isn't real. But, a day off does sound nice...wait! My boss will never allow that."

Emit held up a device. "How do you think I got him to let me in? I'm not a very important person to your time's standards."

"Glad you know that..." Cora mumbled. 

"Watch this," He held up the device and pointed it towards the door. "Call over your boss."

"You're going to get me into some serious trouble," She sighed but did as she was told anyway. "Mr. Marco, I'd like the rest of the day off!"

He came out of his office angrily. "Absolutely not. I can get another secretary in a minute, don't think you're something special! As a matter of fact, go home and don't come back." She looked at him fearfully. Whoever this man was, just got her fired. Emit pressed a button on the device and it shone red. "That's what I would say if I was a mean boss." Mr. Marco's personality did a 360. "Take as much time as you need. Take today, tomorrow, next week, and I'll even pay you for it!"

"Oh my gosh!" Cora looked excitedly at Emit. "How did you do that? You really are from the future! Mr. Marco would never...unless he's being sarcastic?"

"He's not being sarcastic." Emit held his hand to his forehead. He thought he had just gotten her to believe him. "Even if he was though, you have nowhere to be right now, because it'd mean you were fired anyway."

She glared at him, but she went with him anyway. That was the crazy thing about Cora. She tried to rationalize everything in her head, but in the end, she decided to say screw it, and be free for the evening. She was tired of her job, tired of her life. She wanted so much more and maybe this one trip with this supposed time traveler would be just the inspiration she needed to actually do what she wanted.

 The taxi driver was less than thrilled to be driving Emit around. If it wasn't for the wad of cash he held out, the pair would have been turned down. 

"Where to ma'am?" The driver asked, not taking Emit seriously.

"Uhm...my place, I guess? We can go there and talk about your portal or whatever." At Emit's nod, she told the driver her address and they departed.

"So...is it weird, being from the future? Can you tell me who I end up marrying?" She asked quietly.

He shook his head. "Until I find the portal, I can't tell how anything will turn out in Lucky Palms."

"Oh," She said quietly, not knowing whether to believe him or not. She felt as if she could trust him, weirdly enough. He was absolutely ridiculous, but it thrilled her. Even if all of this was some kind of joke, she'd have fun with it while she could.

The rest of the ride was quiet. Emit looked out the window and Cora played with her thumbs. It was definitely awkward.

"You're sure you've never seen a time portal?"

"What does it look like?" She pondered.

"Kind of like...an upwards claw." 

"An upwards claw? Definitely not. I've never seen anything like that." Cora shook her head. "And this is real?"

"Yes. 100% real."

"Well, is 100% the whole thing in the future, or do you guys measure the whole as 200%?"

"All of the measurements are chiefly the same."

"Don't you have some sort of device that can find it for you?"

"I do, but I can't use it. I'm out of titanium ore, and pressurized metal. If I had even a few pieces, I'd be able to locate the portal and be out of your hair."

"Titanium...does it have to be ore? Can it be, you know, made into something already?"

"It's worth a shot, I guess," Emit shrugged.

"Then I know just the place we can find you some metal. Come on, before all the good stuff is taken."

"Eww," Emit shook his head as he stepped over the piles of garbage.

"All of the garbage has to end up somewhere." 

"In the future, it's disintegrated. We would never do this to the planet."

"And that's why you don't have any power for your little device," Cora rolled her eyes.

"I just forgot to change it. Its similar to the batteries you guys use."

"So the great Time Traveler made a mistake?" Cora taunted.

"Hush and find some titanium."

"You better come here and help me, I'm not doing all this work by myself."

"You see, my job is the most important. I have this little box right here that will scan an item to see the metal content in it. So you dig, I check."

She stared up at him, "Even in the future, guys are jerks."

After a few hours, Cora and Emit, well mostly Cora, had found enough pressurized metal to start Emit's machine. "Let's go, come on. We have to find the portal."

"Already? Can't we eat first?" Cora complained, but smiled up at the blue haired man. Something about his presence excited her. He was so different than everyone around her. So exotic.

"There's no time. Let's go, come on."

"So...this is it? We found it...?" Cora asked in shock. Emit waved the recharged device in front of the yard and the time portal appeared instantly.

"Yes." He nodded.

"Now what?"

"I erase your memory."

"What!?" Cora gasped. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Emit asked. "You won't even know that you lost your memory."

"But, I had fun with you today, Emit...I want to remember this day."

Emit stepped towards her and held up another one of his gadgets. He was about to wave it in her face when he saw Cora crying. "Are you...crying?"

"Yes, I am. I want to remember you Emit. I won't tell anyone about you, I promise, I won't. But please...don't let me forget you."

He looked sadly at her. He was also having a great time with her. She was bossy, pushy and annoying, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of her when he was around her. Technically, he didn't even need to go through all that trouble to involve her. He could have used his scanner from the beginning to find the metals he needed. It didn't stop his duty as a guardian. He couldn't let her remember him. "I have to wipe your memory..."

"Ok...you can wipe my memory, but can we at least meet up one more time before you do?" She asked innocently. "Just once more?"

Emit thought for a moment. He only knew this girl for the better of a day, yet he was entranced by her presence. Maybe it was because women weren't as sassy in the future, or maybe it was because of her beautiful orange hair. He didn't know, but he did want to see her again and he'd be able to keep the guardians in the dark a little longer.

"Tomorrow night, you can meet me at the park. The one with all of the fountains."

"Where?" Cora frowned.

He sighed, "I'm not even from here and I know where it is..."

The day dragged by slowly. She couldn't wait to see Emit again. She had hoped she'd be able to change Emit's mind. Maybe he'd bring her to the future with him. When she arrived at the park, she saw him standing there, looking into the many fountains. She grinned as she pounced behind him, scaring him.

"Cora!" Emit held his hand over his heart. This kind of fear, it was new to him. He hadn't experienced several different emotions while watching the future. He had been only close to a select few. Most of them being the guardians and Mason.

"Hi Emit, did you miss me?" He let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and nodded nervously. "I missed you too," She couldn't contain the smile that now formed on her face.

He stared at her wistfully. Maybe he was getting caught up in the moment. it had been so long since he'd felt anything towards another human being, let alone a woman. She was toying with him, that much he knew. He was trying to fight the urge to find out more about her. Part of him saw the two together, even if it just meant as friends. The other part of him was telling him that mortality wasn't worth a single human female.

"Emit, are you okay?" She asked him, a bit worried. He was staring into space and not answering her.

There was only one way to get the thought out of his head. Despite every consequence he thought about, he pulled her body close to his and kissed her roughly.

"Emit..." She breathed. "It's only been a day, you know..."

"And I can't get you out of my mind."

"I know we said we would only meet one more time, but just one more night, please?" She begged. Her tiny frame felt so right in his arms that he couldn't refuse.

That night turned into several more and Emit actually thought about giving up his spot as Time Keeper. That was until one day when he was notified by the guardians. Levi nor Mason were old enough to take over as the full time keeper of Oasis Landing. In order to carry out what they had planned out, Emit needed to be loyal to the guardians and only the guardians. As much as Angel hated to do it, she gave Emit no choice but to return to them. They would exterminate her if Emit disobeyed. He loved her too much to do that and he left her. It killed him inside but he couldn't face Cora. She meant the world to him. He left without ever telling her why.

His timing was terrible. Cora found out she was pregnant shortly after Emit left. He didn't wipe her memory, but everything about Emit seemed to disappear even the portal they spent so much time finding. Emit had concealed it so she wouldn't chase after him. Cora was shocked to find out she was pregnant with twins. She waited and waited for Emit to come back but he never did.

Balancing work and two kids by herself began to be too much for her. She couldn't do it and she owed it to her children to give them a good life she couldn't provide herself. She placed them up for adoption and the orphanage quickly took over. She hoped to get her children back one day, but no one knows what ever happened to her, not even Emit who watched over her timeline constantly.

"That's a really elaborate dream," Leia told her sister.

"I'm telling you, it's the truth. I can feel it in my heart. Mom loved us. Don't you think we should go out and try to find her?"

"Lorie, this is too much!" Leia cried out suddenly. Her head was spinning and she couldn't think straight. She didn't even believe that Emit was her father. Lorie knew that the one thing Leia always wanted was a mother, and she wouldn't joke around with it. If Lorie felt like the story was true, there might have been some merit for it. "Noah is coming out of jail early!"

"That's good news, Leia...what's the problem?"

"The kids...I don't know how they'll react to their own father, I don't have time to chase a mother that probably isn't even real. You don't even have any leads."

"I'm happy that Noah is on his way home, and I know that life is tough right now but please, just think about it." Lorie begged her sister before leaving.
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Whew! That was a long one. I had no idea how to go about what happened between Emit and Cora. It took a lot of brainstorming. This special is extra special because it will come back later on in the story. I hope it doesn't feel too rushed, it was just a lot to fit into only one chapter. I could only do so much before going into a whole separate side story.