Duncan looked at Ethan sitting in a chair in front of the
controls. “How did you get here?”
Feeling calmer, Ethan sighed then responded. “My brother found one of your return thingies and tricked me
into holding onto it when he pushed the button and here I am.”
Duncan turned to Liam, raising his eyebrows, “and the
paradox alarm didn’t go off?”
Liam shook his head, “Nope.”
Slamming the door open; Ryan charged into the room, looking
around wildly. As soon as he saw Ethan he ran over and pulled him into a
bone-crushing hug and smashed his lips down onto his. When they could no longer
breathe, Ryan broke the kiss. Pressing his forehead against Ethan’s, he said,
“I can’t believe you’re here. How did you get here?”
“You left one of your return thingies in my shop and Chris
found it. He tricked me into coming forward like your friend did to you.”
“I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you as well,” Ethan replied, a tear escaping
his left eye.
“Ahem,” Duncan cleared his throat, “everyone to the
conference room, please.” Once everyone was seated around the conference table,
Duncan began the inquisition. “Okay, someone tell me what the fuck is going on
and how did Ethan get here?” He pinned Ryan with an accusing stare.
“I had nothing to do with it. You disabled my access codes,
remember?”
“May I speak?” Ethan asked. Duncan nodded. “I’ve been really
down in the dumps since Ryan was brought back here. My brother found a return
thingy in my shop. He had me hold out my hand, and when I did, he slapped into
my palm and pushed the button. Now I’m here. Look, I know you have to send me
back, but please, can I have just a little bit of time with Ryan, to say
goodbye.” He pleaded.
Duncan held up his hand. “Hold on. We’re not going to send
you back yet. We need to figure out the connection between you and Ryan, and
why the paradox alarm didn’t sound when you arrived, but it did when you and
your brother arrived with Ryan,” Duncan told Ethan.
“You’re not sending me back?” Ethan cast a hopeful look at
Ryan.
“Not yet. Not until we figure this out.”
Anne spoke up, “you know we’ve been trying to figure this
out for a while now. We’re pretty convinced that the Ethan and his family are
supposed to come forward to our time. We believe this newspaper article holds
the key.” She passed the article to Duncan who scanned it quickly.
“That doesn’t explain the malfunction of the paradox alarm,”
Duncan argued.
“I don’t believe there was a malfunction,” Liam said, “I ran
diagnostics on the entire alarm system and no malfunctions were found. I
physically inspected the alarm system and didn’t find any loose connections or
circuit boards.”
Cindy spoke up for the first time. “I know I’m new here, but
I have a theory. Perhaps Ethan’s family is supposed to come to our time, but
not all at the same time. That would explain why the paradox alarm went off
when Ethan and his brother came forward together, but it didn’t go off when Ethan
arrived alone.”
“An interesting hypothesis, Cindy. It’s certainly worth
pursuing. One thing still needs to be addressed, though.” Duncan turned and
looked at Ethan. “Ethan, if you were to stay, you would at a terrible
disadvantage. You would need to have a place to live─”
“He has a place to live ─ with me,” Ryan interrupted.
“What would you do for work? Not to mention the fact that
you’ve missed out on 800 years of
history.”
Ethan looked forlorn. “I guess there’s no choice. You have
to send me back.”
“No!” Ryan’s
response was quick and vehement. “Duncan, we talked about this earlier. Ethan
can live with me. If he’s interested, he’d be an invaluable asset as a
historian. There are a lot of gaps in our history he could probably fill. That
would be a good job for him. As far as his lack of knowledge about the last 800
years we can give him a crash course on the important stuff then fill in the
rest gradually.”
Connor jumped into the conversation. “You know, while you
guys are sitting here trying to decide on Ethan’s future, you’re overlooking
one very important thing; Ethan and what he wants.”
Ryan had the good graces to look sheepish. “I’m sorry, baby.
What do you want to do?”
“As much as I’d miss my family, I want to stay. I want to
stay with Ryan.” Ryan reached out and took his hand. “I like the idea of being
a historian. History has always been a passion of mine. I could also open up a
furniture restoration shop like I have back in my time.”
“And if we could find a way to bring your entire family
forward?” Adrienne queried.
He looked at Ryan with unquestionable love in his eyes. “I’d
be the happiest man on Earth.”
Duncan rubbed his chin as he mulled everything over. “Well,
I guess a welcome is in order. Ethan, welcome to the thirtieth century. If
there’s any possible way to bring your family forward, we’ll find it.”
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