Dear Reader,

This story follows "what I owe you," also posted here at ffnet. It will be followed in turn by "straight up," currently a work in progress on dreamwidth. And then probably by another story after that. So many things I write don't really end, in the traditional sense of the word, so much as they just wander off in a vaguely sunset-oriented direction until they get distracted.

Love, *Andrea

dare you to ask

by starhawk

He didn't ask. He just did it. They had all been ordered to stay away from the interdimensional portals, but that hadn't stopped Summer and she'd come back with the wildest story he'd ever heard. Dr. K didn't put much stock in it, but he'd heard Scott and Summer talking it over in low voices several times since.

They needed more information. Whether there was anything to the wacky animal spirits story or not, there was obviously someone on the other side who thought there was, and whatever that person knew could be helpful. Even if they were a little strange in the head.

Dillon figured asking wouldn't get him anywhere, so he walked into Jungle Karma Pizza the moment it opened and immediately found himself one continent and a considerably better atmosphere away. He also found the place empty. The time difference meant that the early morning sun hadn't found its way over the building and through the windows yet, and the floor was deserted.

"Hello?" he called, turning in a careful circle to make sure he hadn't missed any sleeping tigers or anything. He'd heard footsteps overhead the first time they'd been here, and judging by the sporadic pattern they weren't doing anything business-related up there. Residential loft was his best guess.

"Anyone home?" he said, raising his voice. "I can come back." Except that he was wearing his tracking bug, and Dr. K was going to chew him out enough for doing this once. Depending on whether she acted more disappointed or annoyed, it might not be worth doing a second time.

His ears picked out footsteps: hurrying footsteps, so he assumed they could hear him. Two sets of footsteps, even, though only one of them was coming down the stairs. He turned to face the kitchen door and waited.

The tiger guy burst through the door a second later, bright red t-shirt and weird eyes and a kind of half-smile on his face. "Hey," he said, and it sounded friendly and welcoming despite the fact that his posture screamed get the hell out. "We were hoping you'd come back."

"Right," Dillon said, eyeing him. "Summer said you think you know what's going on."

"No clue," the guy said. "But Aisha's staying with us, and she's got an idea. It's pretty wild."

"Yeah." Summer had provided the woman's name and as many of the details as she could remember. "Alternate timelines? Held together by some sort of crystal thing? As our planet's biofield weakens, we draw more and more energy from yours?"

"Sounds about right," the guy agreed. His unspoken aggression had dropped a couple notches. "She's upstairs. You have time to talk?"

Dillon raised an eyebrow. "You mean, is there someone back in Corinth who'll consider my reason for visiting before hitting me with one of her damn training cannons for disobeying orders? No.

"Am I interested enough to stay anyway?" he added. "Yes."

"Red Ranger?" Casey asked, turning to wave him into the kitchen.

Dillon snorted. He could take Scott. "I wish."