Professor Z sat in his office late one night correcting papers. He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. He put the glasses back to his face and looked around the room before reminding himself that he should probably finish the papers before he went to bed.

He sighed and looked back to the paper he was correcting, ninety-eight percent, Lucas Randall. The paper before, Corrine Baxter, one hundred percent. He lifted up and the one under it was, of course, Vaughn's paper. However, there were people missing. Josie had been missing for three months now, Marshall for one, and his science class was noticeably smaller.

Principal Durst had been pushing him to move out of his office but Lucas had convinced him to keep it open as long as possible; there was a better chance of finding Josie he had reasoned.

After another half hour of grading, Zachary gave up on finishing that night got up out of his chair and started toward the door.

Suddenly, the tiles on the floor began to warp and twist. Z gasped in amazement. He'd been through the wormhole, but only once before and this was a fascinating device really. It caused havoc with the school, but the fact that it was an unbelievable scientific phenomenon was never far from his mind.

The professor thought, elated, Maybe Josie's coming back! He bent closer to the deepening hole in the floor…and was pulled through.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Professor Zachary was deposited unceremoniously on the floor of his office. He brushed off his pants as he stood up and looked around. The first thing he noticed, to his disappointment, was that Josie was nowhere in sight.

He sighed and started back to his desk to finish, he didn't think that he could sleep now anyway. He looked up and froze. Noel spun around and flashed his gaze around the empty room--the very empty room.

Where was his desk? His microscope? His kite? Everything was gone! He continued staring around his unrecognizable office, looking for anything familiar. Nothing showed itself and Z walked out the unmarked door and started down the vacant hall.

He was so busy looking around the hallway; he bumped right into someone coming the other way down the hall.

"Sorry." They said simultaneously. "No problem." There was a slight pause where both men stopped.

Z turned around to face…himself?

The man before him was the same height, same build, same eye and hair color, but without glasses, dressed in casual clothes and his hair was slightly spiked.

"Whoa."

Jeff Douglas had been heading out of the Auchmar Estate when he bumped into someone dressed like Professor Zachary. When he looked closer though, he saw not only someone dressed like Professor Z, but also someone dressed like himself dressed as Professor Z.

Z thought quickly and came up with the memory of Josie coming from the past into the same timeline as…herself. His brow furrowed, thinking, yeah, it did make sense. It had been the same day as the Pizza Party that Durst had put on to distract the students from the tests Mr. Pearson had been doing.

"Fascinating." Z breathed, circling his counterpart.

Jeff leaned back wondering what was going on. "And you are…?" He asked not unkindly.

"Ahhh…of course," Z hesitated, slightly puzzled. If this man was indeed himself in a different timeline, shouldn't he know who he was? Professor Z shook his head; this was confusing. "I'm Professor Zachary. I teach science here…or I did…or I will…" He frowned again.

Jeff was now sure something was up. He would've assumed that this man was a fan or something along those lines, but he could've been a mirror image except for the clothes, hair and glasses. "Alright, Professor Zachary was it?" At his nod, Jeff continued. "May I ask how you got here?"

Z hesitated again. If his counterpart didn't know about the wormhole, he couldn't very well tell him. Then again, he might just be testing to see if he, himself, knew about it. Was he the counterpart or was his counterpart the counterpart? This situation was more confusing now that he was in Josie's shoes. Of course, he reasoned, Josie never had to interact with her counterpart, just avoid her.

Jeff noticed the man's hesitation and asked, "Did you come through the wormhole in the science office?" He asked it neutrally but a small unwilling part of his mind was starting to suspect that this man might be who he said he was. But that's impossible! It's a television show! I can't believe I'm even thinking this! Another part of his mind disagreed. Just play along, you'll figure this out.

Professor Zachary smiled at the question, happy to be sure of something. "Yes, I was correcting papers, and the vortex opened and pulled me in."

"Uh huh." Jeff wondered what to do know. "Okay then Z; let's go back to the science office." He turned around and started back down hall.

Z followed with a surprised look on his face. Huh, he called me Z. What else does he know about my time line? It has to be different then his, but it may be only slightly. He paused in his thoughts, a frown on his face once more. If he knows about my time line, I can't let him tell me anything that might not have happened yet. Josie was lucky not to skew the time line when she went back.

Remembering her exploits, Zachary's brow furrowed. She had to be in the right place in the right time to get back or else it would've flawed and possibly destroyed her time line. His eyes widened. What if I distort this time line? What if, just by being here I have changed the history of my time line? I can't do this alone; I need to talk to my counterpart. …I also need to ask his name, even if he's just Noel, its easier then calling him a counterpart.

"All right, this is where you came out?" Jeff's question broke into his thought.

Z looked around, surprised; they had walked down the hall and into the science office without him noticing. "Ahh...yeah, yes, this is it. Wait, may I ask your name?"

"I'm Jeff, Jeff Douglas." Jeff was looking around the room, with a far away look in his eyes; he smiled and chuckled to himself, reminiscing.

That's odd. Jeff…that's nowhere near my name, first or last. Maybe this person isn't my counterpart after all. If that's the case though, why does he look so much like me, or me so much like him? Think scientifically. The first things to do is gather information. He remembered his prior thought about finding out too much about the future. Just not too much information.

"So," Z sidled up beside Jeff, "are you the science teacher here?"

"What? Oh, no, not exactly." Jeff looked at the man beside him. If this guy was going to say he was Professor Z, why not go along with it. Because it's insane! True, said another part of his mind, but it's also kind of fun. All right, if this is Z he should know about his dad. The filming for Conclusions is finished, but it hasn't aired yet, there's no way he could know. Unless, that part of his mind said again, he's the real deal. "This might be a little personal, but," He paused wondering how to phrase it, "umm… Did you grow up with both parents?"

Z locked eyes with him for a moment, then turned away, "No, I was raised by my mother alone; my dad left us when I was young." He wasn't entirely sure why he was telling Jeff this; it just seemed the appropriate thing to do. "I went and found him later, but he wasn't what I had expected," He grinned mirthlessly, "what I had hoped."

Jeff felt torn between sympathy for Z and amazement that he was Professor Zachary from Blake Holsey High. Sure, there had been hints about Z's past in the show, Transference especially, but he had nailed it. About going and finding his dad, and there was no way, he could've been sneaking around during filming; the security was very good. The only possible explanation was that he was Professor Z; as impossible as that sounded.

"You really are Professor Z." Jeff said, looking at him with barely concealed disbelief.

Noel was slightly confused in this change of topic. "Yes…I told you that." Suddenly, he noticed the look on Jeff's face. "You didn't believe me!"

"Well…no I didn't. You have to understand that it's hard to believe you, when it's just a TV show." Jeff stopped, realizing what he'd said and paused waiting for the question he knew was coming.

"What is just a TV show?" Z asked, hoping he'd misunderstood the statement.

---------------------------------------

Well, here we are, I finally got this finished and put up! It's less of a story and more of an out-of-control oneshot, but hey, it has a vague plotline! I'll admit, it's not one of my best works, but I had fun writing it and I hope you have fun reading it, maybe even enough to review if I'm lucky!