Hey fellow TWT fans, and people! This is just a little story that popped into my head the other day, so I decided to type it up and post it for ya'll. Enjoy! :)
A continuation of the episode "See You Later, Gladiator."
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The Unexpected Visit
Fred had fallen on the floor from a cramp in his rips, and had turned to lie on his back and debate his life, looking up at the ceiling. 'My brother needs to flip off. He doesn't know anything…' Fred thought to himself. Letting out a relieved sigh he added, 'I'm just glad the professor turned out alright.'
Suddenly, the room went green with mist and there was a flash. Someone had just warped in. When the mist cleared, Fred discovered it was Samantha as she had her signature orange shirt on. He swiftly sprang up from his laying position.
She got up and searched feverishly around the room. "No. No, no!" She then dropped to her knees and gripped her head, shouting one last, "No!"
"Shh! Samantha keep it down." Fred told her with his hands as he got up.
"I can't keep it down!" Her voice was tense with stress and worry. "Mad Jack stole The Book from us and warped Jodie, Freddi and I to 3 different places in time! It's going to take a miracle to get us all back!"
"Well why didn't you stop him?" Fred asked, a bit in distress now as well.
"Don't you think we would've if we could've?!" Samantha growled. "He used a paralyzation gas just as he warped in to steal it!"
"Alright, I see. I'm sorry that happened just- please stop yelling." Fred urged.
She shook her head, organizing her thoughts. "I have to get to Joe's house." she said in a flurry, and headed for the door.
Fred slipped in front of her and shut back the cracked open door. "Not now. Everyone is home right now: my parents and my brother. And if they find out I have a girl in my room, or if they think I'm hiding you in my room, I'll be in an uncomprehendable amount of trouble."
She looked at him with worry, then down at the floor thoughtfully.
Fred took her by her shoulders reassuringly. "We'll go later tonight and see what his book can do for you guys. So for now, don't worry."
"I'll try..." she replied as she looked to the side.
Fred let go of her shoulders. "You can stay in here in the meantime, but just- stay quiet. If we stay quiet they won't come in and everything will be fine."
"Alright, cool. Thanks Fred." Samantha said gloomily. He led her to his desk, and told her she could have the top bunk of his bed if she wanted for tonight. "That's alright, I- can- sleep on the floor if I need to." She smiled a crooked smile at him.
"No way. No friend of mine is going to be sleeping on the floor if I can help it." he told her sternly. "Here, I'll change the sheets for ya." He started up to the top bunk.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, it's no problem."
Fred handed her the books he checked out from the local library, explained to her why he had them, and then began tugging the smelly sheets off the mattresses. He threw them in his hamper and exchanged them for new ones, giving Samantha a set to put on the bottom bunk. They changed the pillow casings and the bed's fitted sheets. Afterwards, Fred pulled out freshly washed fabric blankets and tossed them onto the beds.
After the beds were made, the two sat and chatted about anything and everything, from school to the economy in their times—"Dude, can you believe that a pack of gum in 2105 is a hundred dollars?"
"Are you kidding me? So, since I get ten bucks a month as allowance…you're telling me I'd have to wait ten months to get a pack of gum?!"
"If you lived in the future, yeah."-and played a game of 20 Q until Fred got called for dinner.
"I'll be back." he said as he jumped down from his bed. He then stopped and turned back to Samantha. "Uh, want me to bring you some food? Wait- you know what? I'll ask if I can eat up here so we can- share or something." he shrugged.
"You do what you gotta do to get me some food. Please. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast." she asked of him politely.
Fred straightened up and saluted her. "Yes, ma'am. Fred the Freak, off on a mission." he said as he marched out, shutting the door behind him.
Samantha chuckled and turned to the books from the library that now sat on Fred's desk. She flipped through them, wondering at the same time where Jodie and Freddi were, and if they were safe. She wished Mad Jack had never been born. "Maybe one day I'll go back in time and see if I can stop him from learning about time travel…in some way… It's worth a shot.' she told herself. Hearing Fred come back up the stairs, she shook herself from her thoughts and pretended to be reading the book in hand until he came in.
"Here." He placed the plate down in front of her. "I convinced them to let me up here and bring two forks with me, but not two plates of food."
"That's alright, one plate is enough. What did you tell them about the forks?" Samantha laughed.
Fred pulled a stool from its corner and brought it over to the desk as he replied plainly, "I told 'em it was for my imaginary friend. They think I'm crazy now."
They both laughed about it, then ate the plate clean of grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and salad with ranch dressing in under ten minutes. Fred then went down to do the dishes, per the norm, and Samantha was left alone again. She strolled about the compact room and peeped out the windows, reminding herself of what New York used to be like: all noise and dirt from top to bottom. Fred's room was so small, she was surprised he hadn't succumbed to claustrophobia, and as she looked out his window, she noticed the majority of the rooms were petite like his. The longer she stayed alone in his room, the more things she noticed about it that displeased her: certain areas of his walls had peeling paint, the air quality inside nearly matched that of the outside… She was glad she didn't live in his time.
Suddenly the door knob began to twist, and Samantha's heart began to race. She darted next to the door, next to its hinges, for if and when it opened, could provide her with quick cover. It opened a tad, as she suspected, and she held her breath. Hearing a masculine "hmm..." come from the other side, she waited for Fred's brother or father to leave, and slid down behind the door in relief after the voice left.
Fred had finally finished the dishes and was making his way back to his room. He opened the door and didn't find his friend where he expected her to be, still by his desk. "Samantha?" he asked in a whisper.
"I'm over here." she whispered back.
Fred whipped his head around and found her behind the door.
"I think your brother or your dad came by before. I didn't catch their face. He looked in your room and sounded all suspicious." she told him, still hushed.
He narrowed his eyes at the door and said, irritated, "That creep. Don't worry, it was probably Mike. He won't come by here again. He likes to check my room once a day like that...I have no idea." He shrugged it off as he told her.
"Okay then..." Samantha drifted as she looked away. "So, what are we going to do?..."
"Anything to pass the time! Wanna start with 'Truth or Dare'?" Fred offered with his brows raised.
"You mean 'Confess or Do Something Disgusting'?"
"Aw come on, don't be like that." he joked, but Samantha refused.
So the two played a few board games: Sorry, Checkers, and Monopoly, Samantha winning 2 of the 3 games. "How the heck are you so good at Monopoly?!" Fred exclaimed, genuinely shocked she had acquired 3 hotels and roughly $130,000 in the game so far.
"Oh please, if I were playing this with Jodie in 2105, I would have about a million dollars, at least 3 areas bought out, and houses at every one." Samantha laughed and replied in a show-offy manner.
"What?! How?!" Fred's brother, Mike, blasted rock music from his room, so him and Samantha could talk a bit more loudly and yell if they wanted.
"Spending money wisely is the last thing Jodie is good at." she told him with a laugh. "That, and I play with her all the time. Like a few times a month."
"Teach me your ways." Fred marveled in a sarcastic manner, but Samantha did teach him a few tricks that almost won him the game. No one could out-play Samantha.
They also arm wrestled: Samantha won 4 of the 6 rounds played to Fred's surprise.
"Do you take some sort of steroids or something? You're mad strong." Fred adjusted his cap as he told her, hiding his awe.
Samantha laughed before she said, "No way! I've been doing gymnastics since I was 5. They make us do full-body workouts and whatnot, so I beat you so many times because of the amount of push-ups I've done over the years."
Fred gave her a suspicious look. "Eh, I still think steroids played a part in you beating me though..."
Samantha rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous I beat you." she sang.
"Pfff, whatever." he replied as he looked to the side, limp-wristing the argument.
Some 'I Spy' out the window came next, and they eventually participated in The Poke War. It started with Samantha, as she and Fred ran out of ideas to pass the time. She slowly lifted her hand and jabbed him in his arm. He winced and asked what it was for, and she chucked and poked him again. So he poked her back; thus sparked The Poke War.
After a solid 15 minutes, it was over, and the two had gotten bruises in places they didn't know could bruise.
•
Night had fallen, and the two unlikely friends were stuffed into bed, waiting for the right moment to sneak out.
Fred lay especially uncomfortable on the bottom bunk that night, and he stared out the window restlessly.
He took a deep breath and asked, "Samantha?"
"Yeah?" she replied with a curious tone.
"No nothing...I just wanted to make sure you weren't asleep..."
"Yeah, I'm not sleeping. I was listening to music with those plastic glasses everyone here thinks are strange..." she told him with a giggle. "Are you sure that was all?" She noticed the drift in his speech.
"I don't know..."
He heard the top bunk creak several times, and then saw jeaned legs drop down and crawl down to the floor. Samantha went over to the desk and put her glasses back on before she sat down on the edge of Fred's bed. He sat up to make room for her and crossed his legs 'Indian style.' He avoided her gaze for a while, even after she asked, "What's the matter?" genuinely concerned.
He stammered and traced the room with his eyes as he replied, "I was just- thinking too much I guess. It's just...not fair how I always get in trouble..." Now he looked at Samantha. "Like, I do all of my chores and my brothers 'cuz if I don't he'll 'pound me' and...people are always mad at me because I make stupid mistakes and I don't know why- I can't stop- making them."
He paused and looked down at his hands in an aggravated confusion.
"Fred...people make mistakes all the time, you're not the only one." she told him gently, trying to help.
"I know that, but it's not what I mean. I'm saying that I always make stupid mistakes and I don't know why. I don't know how to avoid them so that- people can just be- not mad at me." He ran a tense hand through his hair.
Samantha took the wrist of the hand that sat in his hair and brought it down. "Fred, it's just a phase you're going through. Most guys go through something similar if not the same thing. Don't think about that stuff too much. Just try to think about what you do before you do it." she advised him politely. Samantha then grinned softly and added, "You didn't make a stupid mistake when you told me to wait until dark to get The Book. That was pretty smart."
Fred looked at the hand carefully placed on his wrist and back at her. He grinned as he said, "Thanks Samantha." He looked away thoughtfully and added, "Helps..."
"Hey, it's what friends do." She brought her hand back to her body, leaving cool air to occupy the place on Fred's hand where Samantha's rested a moment ago. "You calmed me down when I was worried about Jodie and Freddi, so I helped you out now."
"Yeah..." Fred debated her gesture a bit longer, then straightened up and told her warmly, "Thanks Samantha. Really, it means a lot."
It was a different side of Fred that she had never seen, but it was a pleasant side, and she hoped she was the first to discover it. She liked to believe she was.
"Like I said, it's what friends do."
"Well then, let's get going to Joe's then. Shall we?" He rose from his bed and offered his hand to Samantha.
"Let's shall." she replied full of determination as she took his hand and stood up.
And for that one moment, their hands touched for the first time.
Fred suddenly remembered something. "Oh...shoot. Uh, just one thing, hold on." He went over to his desk and pulled out a flip phone, dialed the digits to Joe's house and waited for an answer.
"Yes hello! I was wondering if Joe was around. I wanted to visit him for a moment...this is Fred...alright." He held the phone's mic down as he said to Samantha, "His mom picked up the phone..."
She nodded understandingly.
"Hey Joe! I was wondering if I could come over for a sec 'cuz uh, yeah Samantha warped into my room in the middle of the day and~ I had to keep her here cuz my parents were home and, a lot of other biz. We just wanted to know if we could come over to use The Book. It's rather important... Alright, awesome. We'll be right over." Fred shut the phone and put it back in his desk.
"Okay, now we need to be real stealthy and quiet when we head out the front."
"Agreed. You lead and I'll follow."
The two of them made it out of Fred's apartment, to Joe's house without a problem, got The Book, and found the other girls. After a short but heartfelt reunion, they warped back to 2105 safe and unharmed, and the boys warped back to 2005, exhausted.
Mad Jack was another issue that needed to be taken care of, but on a different day. "He really needs to just, sit down and take a chill pill." Joe complained, referring to Jack.
"You said it dude." Fred replied, then thought about the day's events. "Man, think about it, we got to meet gladiators, a famous professor, see the Colosseum, and then we had to search for the girls and whatnot...freaking long day..." he dragged.
Joe agreed with a sigh, then asked about Samantha. "I had to keep her hidden in my room, 'cuz if Mike or my parents saw her, I would've been dead meat."
"Ah, I see. What did you two do all afternoon?" he asked with a playfully raised brow.
Fred shoved him. "Nothing like what's going through your head, perv. We just did anything to pass the time. And..we sort of warmed up to each other." he grinned. "I kinda feel bad for insulting her earlier, though." he thought back again.
"Don't stress it. I'm sure she forgot all about it."
"Yeah, let's hope." He thought some more about Samantha before he looked at the clock and brought himself back into reality. "Well, it's been fun Joe, but I think I'll be heading home now."
"Alright man, see ya around." Joe waved as Fred headed for the door.
"Night!" he called as he rounded the corner out of Joe's room.
As Fred walked home in the cool, late September air, Samantha drifted back into his mind. Turned out she wasn't all brains after all.
Sorry about the length. I just kept writing! hehe Please review and let me know what you think! :)