Part One
The Park – New Year's, Twelve Past Midnight
The three T.A.R.D.I. materialized on the Park grounds, right near the same crater that Neas's created on its first emergency landing.
"Man, I wonder what day it could be," Mordecai said upon stepping out of Shel's T.A.R.D.I.S. with his friends.
"Hardly anything's changed since we've been away," Muscle Man noted.
"That's 'cause it's still New Year's, after midnight," Neas said. "Right where we found you guys."
"Seriously?!" Rigby exclaimed. "It's felt like weeks!"
"Did we forget to mention that our T.A.R.D.I.S. travels through time, too?" Shel haughtily stated.
While his employees reveled in the fact, Benson uneasily approached Shel.
"Uh…Shel? About me kissing you back there in the Dalek ship? Look, I'm sorry if it came off as unexpected and unnecessary. It was a stupid move I made in the heat of the moment, and I'm sorry. I understand if you think of me as being repulsively immature and desperate…"
"Don't forget 'thirsty,'" Rigby supplemented.
Benson angrily gritted his teeth at the raccoon. "Yes, thank you, Rigby." After a deep calming breath, he continued, "Anyway, I hope that hasn't changed how you feel about me as a—"
He froze just as Shel's warm, soft lips touched the side of his glass dome head.
"We'll meet again, Benson," she sultrily told him.
"Whoooooooooooooooooooooa, Benson!" Mordecai and Rigby whooped.
"Way to go, bro!" Muscle Man cheered.
"Casanova!" Skips extolled.
"Good show!" Pops applauded.
Benson blushed, his dome turning a dark shade of purple.
"Well, I…uh…," he stammered, chuckling. "I gu-guess I'll see you again, t-too."
"You guys are the coolest!" Rigby praised.
"Yeah, whenever you're around the Park again, hook us up with another crazy space adventure," Mordecai invited.
Neas snorted. "I don't think you fellas are ready for real space adventures."
"More like real space adventures aren't ready for us," Rigby countered, following it with another whoop out of him and the rest of the crew as they returned to their domicile in the Park.
The Next Morning
"WHAAAAAAA!"
Mordecai was startled awake by the screams of Rigby.
"Dude!" He groggily yelled. "Are you still having those nightmares about the British taxicab?!"
"No, man," Rigby denied. "It's Benson."
Rigby pointed towards the window.
Mordecai looked out and, oddly enough, their boss and friend was sitting on the ledge right outside their bedroom and gazing up towards the cloudy morning sky.
"Benson, dude, have you been sitting out here all night?!" Mordecai inquired.
"Huh?" Benson uttered, as if snapped out of a trance. "Oh, hi, Mordecai."
"What's wrong, man?" Rigby asked. "You're not waiting for Shel to come back, are ya? Dude, that ship has sailed – or rocketed away…or something. She was an alien from another dimension and the chances of her coming back are a million to one."
His cold, harsh method of reasoning earned him a hard punch to the arm by Mordecai. "What Rigby means to say, Benson, is that anything can happen," Mordecai reassured. "Shel crashed down to our planet in a videotape-shaped spaceship from out of nowhere. A moment like that is bound to happen again, especially in our lives."
Benson nodded considerably. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Mordecai. Maybe some good ol' work will break me out of this funk. You guys get ready for morning meeting in five minutes."
"Well, that was quick," Rigby griped. "C'mon, Benson. We just had a rough trip through parallel dimensions in time and space."
"Alright," Benson sternly said. "We'll make it ten minutes or YOU'RE FIRED!"
Rigby was not the only one suffering fatigue after an aggressive, unnatural, and unexpected trip. The rest of the crew – Skips, Muscle Man, Pops, and High-Five Ghost – practically had to pry themselves out of bed. They would have complained just as much as Rigby had they not been reminded by Mordecai about how much Benson missed Shel.
However, as the morning meeting commenced, everyone but Benson noticed the dark storm clouds developing overhead.
"Benson, dude, are you not seeing how crazy the weather is right now?!" Rigby indicated. "We can't work in this!"
His attention redirected to the raging skies, Benson admitted, "It is a bit of some nasty weather this morning. O.K., well, in that case, we'll limit all jobs to indoors. Muscle Man, you and Fives…"
Rigby interrupted his instruction with a loud, aggravated groan. "Just admit it, Benson. This is a sign for us not to work today."
"I hafta agree with Rigby on this one, Benson," Skips said. "We've all had a rough night – if some of us wanna call it that."
"That's what I told him," Rigby exclaimed in aggravation.
Benson fumed over the complaints, his face turning a dark shade of red. "I can't believe you guys! Here I am, accommodating you from the weather, and you're being ungrateful for it?! Or would you all rather enjoy your first day-off at the unemployment line?!"
His sudden, erratic behavior took his staff by surprise.
"Benson, calm yourself," Pops pleaded. "This is quite unprofessional of you."
"Yeah, bro," Muscle Man acknowledged. "What's up with you today?"
"He's still bent out of shape about his alien girlfriend," Rigby openly broadcasted.
"RIGBY!" Benson roared.
"It's no secret how much you like Shel, Benson," High-Five Ghost stated. "We all saw the kiss she gave you."
Having lost all control of the meeting, Benson furiously demanded, "LEAVE! ALL OF YOU! GET OUT OF HERE! MEETING'S OVER!"
They did as he requested, without question.
Alone, Benson threw an explosive tantrum from Pops' house all the way to the park's water fountain. The only thing to stop it was a sudden bolt of lightning that struck down right upon the water fountain in front of him.
The shockwave knocked him back and out of consciousness.
Some minutes later, he awakened to an extraordinary sight.
Standing right where the water fountain once stood was the Type-Z T.A.R.D.I.S.
Benson was overwhelmed but not as much as when the Type-Z's doors opened with smoke billowing out, along with a lone figure.
The smoke cleared to reveal a dazed, stumbling Shel.
She looked much different than she had the night before, sporting bright blond hair while dressed in the clothes of her previous incarnation – the tall, masculine African American man named "Neas."
Beaming with joy, Benson cried, "Shel! You've come back!"
She hardly responded to his presence, merely looking around the quaint park setting with childlike wonder.
Looking straight at her, Benson realized how she was literally more radiant, her skin glowing gold. At first, he thought it to have been a side-effect to the lightning; of course, with her alien physiology, it could have been anything.
"S-Shel?" He stammered. "Are you…alright?"
Her crystal blue eyes finally glanced his way, ostensibly recognizing him.
Then, without caution, she collapsed to the ground, much to Benson's distress.
The coffee shop was the one spot where Mordecai and Rigby felt liberated from Benson and work altogether (except for the one time he had Peeps surveillance cameras strapped to their bodies).
They invited the rest of the crew along for breakfast and planned to spend New Year's Day – their official day-off – hanging out together.
It was an added bonus that they came to the shop during Margaret and Eileen's morning shift, as it allowed them to recall their recent space-time adventure with the ladies, ending it on Benson's outburst earlier that day.
"You should've seen him," Rigby said. "He completely flew off at us, even Pops!"
"Sadly, it's the truth," Pops confirmed.
"As wrong as he was, Rigby, his feelings were justified," Eileen addressed. "Love makes people do crazy things."
"Or, in Benson's case, turns them into a nutjob," Rigby argued.
The shop entrance dinged, indicating the arrival of another customer.
Muscle Man's eyes unnervingly bulged, looking towards the person. "Uh…speaking of nutjobs…"
The others traced his gaze, seeing a big, burly man standing near the entrance, wearing sunglasses and biker gear while carrying a fully-loaded shotgun.
"What the…?!" A mortified Mordecai uttered.
"Where is Sarah Connor?" The man asked in a very robotic tone of voice.