Impossibilities
Disclaimer: The characters belong to CBS, I just play with them.
Spoiler: Around Season Four.
Dedication: For Lily Moonlight. Better late than never, right?
A/N: Thanks to lily moonlight for having a look over this. I added a few more lines that aren't betaed, so if anybody finds a few mistakes, they are my fault all alone!
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"So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible." – Lewis Caroll
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Don Flack believed in police work and that you can't think with an empty stomach. Some people believed in fate, in destiny or a god that held everybody to a higher purpose. Don Flack always thought that those people were too scared or too lazy to take their lives into their own hands.
What was praying to some people, or laying tarot-cards to others, was a big chocolate chip cookie to Don Flack. He always thought better while something sweet filled his mouth and the texture of a still warm cookie on his tongue inspired his brain to his best work. Like today, when he went to buy one of his favorite cookies during lunch time and found the person they had been looking for all morning right in front of the bakery. They probably never would've found her in time if his gut hadn't been telling him to get that cookie. His gut sometimes worked in miraculous ways…
Satisfied with the work he had done, Flack walked to Mac's office to give his latest report, thinking about the movie he would see with Jessica that night. Back into the future. Flack hated time-travel movies, he thought they made no sense at all. They gave him a head ache but Jessica loved them. So he rented it for her.
He didn't mind, really. He probably wouldn't pay much attention to the movie anyway but would instead watch Jess watching the movie. She would probably smile a lot. She always did, when they rented the movie. He liked that. It would be the fourth time they would watch that movie together. Time travel. For reasons unknown, time travel made Jess smile. Or maybe it was ogling a young Michael J. Fox that had that affect on her. Flack really didn't like that movie.
"I really hate time travel," he said as he entered Mac's office.
Mac looked up from his files at Flack's words. Stella turned her head around to face him. She was standing in front of Mac's desk, her arms crossed in front of her chest. Mac sat behind his desk, as usual, frowning, also as usual. Flack had probably interrupted Stella scolding Mac for working too hard.
Flack raised a brow. "Did he jump down the rabbit hole again?" he asked in the hope of making Stella smile, but she just bit her lip and shook her head like she couldn't believe he had just said that. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't believe it either. Especially when he saw Mac's face.
"Do you want anything in particular?" Mac asked. He sounded impatient. Something wasn't right…
"Just wanted to tell you that Maureen is alright." Flack gulped. "I just got away from the doctor and he said, she's a little dehydrated but she will be fine."
"Anything else?" Stella tapped her fingers against her arm.
Holding up both his hands, Flack took a step back. "I'll leave you two alone…"
And he did. The other thing he hated, were fights. Not real fights like with your fists or something; he didn't mind them so much. There was something honest about punching a douche bag in the face. He hated these long touchy-feely discussions that he and Jess sometimes had. About the fact that he dropped his clothes where he took them off for example. Strange thing though, she didn't seem to mind so much the first time he took them off in front of her. Fights with Jess gave him head aches too.
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Two hours later, Flack peeked into the floor outside of Mac's office. The blinds of the office were open, the office itself was empty.
Very good. Maybe Mac and Stella were getting a break? They really needed one. The perfect time to drop off his report on Mac's desk before he left to meet with Jess. Throwing a look over his shoulder just in case, Flack crossed the floor and entered Mac's office and dropped his file on the desk. Right next to a glass of milk and a plate with a big chocolate chip cookie on it. On the cookie there laid a piece of paper with some typewriting on it.
Flack squinted. He should really get his eyes checked. He could make out his name on the note but he couldn't quite read the rest so he leaned forward.
"Don,
Eat the cookie to gain time.
Drink the milk to let time fly by."
Odd. Flack never pictured Stella as a woman who enjoyed cryptic notes. But it must be Stella who had left all this for him. Just the idea of Mac being behind all this was ridiculous. No, it must've been Stella who left the milk and the cookie for him. Probably as an apology for being so rude earlier. Doing a nice thing like that was Stella's style. Of course it was unnecessary, he wouldn't be able to be mad at her anyway. He just liked her too much. But it was nice and very much appreciated. Smiling, Flack straightened up, picked up the note and shoved it in his pocket before he took the glass of milk in his left hand and the cookie in his right. He walked over to the window. He would enjoy the peace offering while looking at the great skyline of his New York.
The sun was already settling down. It had been a long day. A long good day, thanks to him and his guts. Flack bit into his cookie. His eyes fell shut as the chocolate-sensation hit his tongue. Soooo good! Swallowing he opened his eyes again and almost choked on the last crumb of cookie that passed down his throat. Now the sun was coming up. Flack blinked. It still looked like the sun was rising. How was this possible? He really needed to get his eyesight checked. And his brain while he was on it. He blinked again, the sun stayed the same. He definitely looked at New York in the morning.
Flack heard the door open behind him and turned around as Mac and Stella entered the office together, smiling at each other. That would probably change in a second. Flack knew he was looking stupid with his mouth hanging open and all, but right now he wasn't able to activate his jaw muscles. That he still held the glass of milk and the cookie in his hands left him feeling like a little boy that had just got caught by his parents. And the sun was rising, damn it. How was that possible?
"Would you like to go to that new restaurant on Fifth?" Mac asked.
Flack's jaw dropped even more. He had expected Mac to ask something, it was his office after all, but he never expected him to say that.
"The Italian one? I'd love to," Stella said.
They weren't talking to him! It seemed that they hadn't even noticed him. Her face lighted up as she looked at Mac. Jessica had that same look on her face the first time Flack had asked her out.
"It's a date," Mac said, the corners of his mouth turned upwards.
Stella nodded. "It's a date."
The two of them were now looking at each other over Mac's desk. Intimately looking at each other.
Flack cleared his throat. They kept staring at each other.
"Hello?" he said. Still no reaction. Weird. Maybe this was a dream? Maybe he fell asleep in Mac's office? That would explain how the sun could be rising instead of setting now. Oh God, if he had fallen asleep, he was currently sleeping in Mac's office. If Mac found him, he'd be so dead. He had to wake up now! When he pinched himself in the arm, a cell rang.
Mac and Stella stopped looking at each other. Finally. Flack had felt like a dirty voyeur being in the same room with them. Even in his dreams he wished them privacy. Wouldn't want Mac to dream about him with Jess either. Just too weird. He shivered. Hopefully, the cell ringing was his own. A waking call from his Jess. His Jess. He liked the sound of that. Why couldn't he be dreaming about him and her instead of Mac and Stella? He didn't want to know what a shrink would make of that.
Closing his eyes, he pinched himself again. When he opened his eyes, he fully expected to find the sun sinking again, and his cell ringing in his pocket. Instead he saw Mac reaching into his own pocket, taking out his cell and answering the call: "Yes? … Hey Flack." Mac gave Stella a hand signal to wait while Flack tried to figure out if they had a full moon tonight. This was the strangest dream he had for like ever.
"Give me the address again, please?" Mac said now. Then he paused, waited. "Okay, we'll be right there." He hung up. "We have a missing person," he told Stella. "Maureen Strengler, 68, vanished from her home. There is blood on the floor, signs of a struggle. Her daughter found the house trashed, saw the blood and called the police."
"I'll get the car," said Stella.
So strange. That was the case Flack had called Mac about this morning. He sipped on his milk. Nothing better to calm your thoughts than milk. A blink of an eye and the lighting of the room changed again. The files on Mac's desk had been moved, the chair stood in another angle. The whole room was darker. What the hell?
A look over his shoulder confirmed what Flack already suspected. Now the sun was sinking again. It was maybe two or three hours before he had bitten into his cookie. Three hours before? Why was he thinking that? That was crazy! Then he remembered Stella's note.
"Eat the cookie to gain time.
Drink the milk to let time fly by."
Flack hated time travel.
Was it even possible? Jumping back in time by biting in a cookie? That would mean, he witnessed Mac talking on the phone to him, a younger Flack. Well, a not that much younger Flack. Eight hours, give or take.
And now that he had drunk some of the milk, had he jumped forward in time? How much forward? A few hours? Days? Months? He looked around in Mac's office to orientate himself by his surroundings. It still looked like Mac's office to him. Hmpf. No help here.
Flack shoved his hand into his pocket and crumpled the note. "I hate time travel."
Mac's office doors opened again and Mac came in, reading a file, followed by Stella.
"I'm going to need maybe one hour to complete my report," she was saying. "Will you be finished by then?"
His eyes still fixed on the file, Mac walked around his desk and sat down. "I want to complete a few other reports before I leave," he said. "Don't wait up."
Flack flinched as he saw Stella's face. There was no smile, not even a curled up corner of her mouth. Whenever Jess looked at him like that, he knew he better stopped talking and rush to buy her some flowers to make up for whatever was his wrong doing.
"I won't," she said. Her shoulders hung. She didn't look angry, Flack realized, she looked sad, disappointed. That was worse.
"I really hate time travel." It was Flack's voice who said it, but it wasn't him. Well, it was him but it wasn't.
With his jaw dropped. Flack watched himself entering Mac's office and his head started hurting. Seemed like he jumped back in time to the moment when he came to Mac to give them the good news about Maureen. They all had been worried about the old lady but after working on the case together, they figured out, that it had been Maureen herself that had destroyed the apartment. She had cut herself with a splinter from a vase she had broken. She had Alzheimer's, a terrible disease. Her daughter had been so relieved when Flack had found Maureen in front of the bakery.
And now it seemed like he was reliving the moment where he told Stella and Mac that Maureen was fine. Well, not reliving, more watching. After he jumped back in time. No, forward. No, first back than forward. He hated time travel. He really did. His head ached. His hands were shaking and the milk spilled over his hand.
If he was still in the same day, he knew why Stella was so cold to him. Well, would be cold to him in a few seconds. She was mad at Mac because he forgot their date. He was in so much trouble. But how was it possible that a smart man like Mac could forget he had a date with a beautiful woman, when he made that date just a few minutes ago? Hours, he meant. When it not now was like two hours before he took a bite out of that cursed cookie, it was like eight hours ago that… Or was it seven? He hated time travel with all his heart.
Flack licked a milk drop off his thumb.
Then he was standing in front of Mac's desk, the milk and the cookie gone and his file in his hand. What the hell?
"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked from behind.
Flack spun around. "Mac!" Flack felt himself blush as he waved the file in his hand. "My report," he said.
"Put it on my desk."
"Was about to." Flack dropped the file onto a few others that were already lying there.
Mac walked around his desk. "Something else?"
Flack shook his head. "No." But then again… "Maybe there is."
Mac just looked at him. The silent treatment. Worked wonders for him when he himself was interrogating suspects.
"Stella is mad at you because you have a date with her and you forgot." Flack almost felt cheap because he caved in so quickly but watching Mac turn pale made him feel better again.
"How do you know that?" Mac asked.
That was a good question. What to say to that? Mac would never believe that he had been time traveling. So Flack decided to stay as close to the truth as he could: "I ate a cookie and drank some milk."
"What?" Now Mac looked at him as if he was crazy.
"I hate time traveling," Flack said.
Mac's look intensified. "That doesn't make sense."
"That's exactly why I hate it." Flack waved his hands in defeat. By doing so, he caught a glimpse at his wrist watch. Oh damn. In five minutes he was supposed to meet Jess! Where did all the time go? If he was honest, Flack didn't want to know. That wouldn't save his ass anyway if he was late to his date. Women really hate to wait for a man. Especially Jess. "I have to go, see you tomorrow." With that Flack rushed out of Mac's office. Better to deal with an irritated boss tomorrow than to handle a pissed off girlfriend the whole evening.
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Whistling, Flack walked into the CSI-building. Yesterday evening had been great. He had been on time, Jess had smiled a lot while they had watched "Back to the Future" and afterwards he got a treat for being such a good boyfriend. Really a great evening. Flack grinned. And a great night as well.
"Flack!" two combined voices called him from behind.
Turning around he saw Mac and Stella coming towards him. Stella held a box in her right hand, both were smiling. That must be a good thing then. He tried to relax his shoulder muscles that had suddenly stiffened as he had heard them calling him, but he couldn't fully do it. He still felt tense. Ready to run, if necessary.
"Mac said, I owe you a thank you for giving him a kick in the butt," Stella said.
"I… I didn't kick Mac in the…" Flack looked at Mac. "I really didn't mean to…"
Mac just grinned at him. "It's okay. I needed it," he said.
Smiling, Stella handed Flack the box. "Open it."
As he looked in, he went pale. A chocolate chip cookie just like the one he had found on Mac's desk. He pressed the box back into Stella's hand and turned his head away. "Please take that away from me"
Stella frowned. "Is something wrong?"
Very, very wrong. It was terrible. He loved cookies and now he couldn't eat one because he feared to jump back in time. Time travel really ruins everything. He hated it.
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"Don't put everything you found in your mouth." – My Mother
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A/N: As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. So if you have the time, please review :)