Clockstoppers: Out of Time
Summary:
Ten years after Zak first found the watch and had the adventure of a lifetime, time has moved on – and brought with it changes he could not have predicted:
After defeating Henry Gates saving his father, Zak Gibbs had gone on to have a better relationship with his Dad, even coming to understand that they were actually quite alike – and realizing that was no bad thing. But their new found father-son bond was torn apart five years later when his father fell ill after developing a reaction to his extended stay in hyper time – dying from an incurable condition known as Accelerated Molecular Disorder, or the Time Traveler's Disease, as it has come to be known. Around this time, Dr Earl Dopler, who never did learn to stop tinkering with time, altered the watch and spent several days in hyper time, having become sick and tired of being stuck in a teenage body after Dr. Gibb's anti aging invention worked a little too well...but his attempt to get back to his mid twenties went wrong and Dopler came out of hyper time as a man aged into his forties...
Zak still misses his father but is now happily married to Francesca and they both live at home with Zak's widowed mother. Also still living at home is Zak's younger sister Kellie, who is now in her early twenties. When Kellie was a teenager she had a big crush on the teenage version of Earl Dopler – who was forever avoiding her attentions - but after her father's death, when Kellie discovered Earl had risked his life by having a second extended stay in hyper time and reacted with anger, telling him she hated him for taking such a risk... When Earl contacts Zak, he is brought back into their lives – and taking one look at grown up Kellie, Earl realizes he's made a big mistake, because its love at first sight for him – but not for Kellie, who still thinks he was foolish to mess around with the dangers of extended hyper time again, and doesn't want to know him.
But Kellie doesn't know that Earl has only come back to live with them because he too is suffering from the deadly effects of spending too long in hyper time - the condition has taken longer to develop because Earl was much younger than Zak's father when he was forced to spend two weeks in hyper time by Henry Gates – but Earl knows his time his running out and is working on a machine that can reverse the damage done to his body by over exposure to hyper time. Zak is devastated to learn that his friend is suffering the same condition that killed his father – and when Kellie finds out, she reconsiders her feelings for Earl.
But just as Earl Dopler is getting closer both to Zak's sister and to finishing the development of the machine that will cure him, Zak is informed by the FBI that the watches confiscated from QT Corporation ten years before have been stolen by a powerful business woman named Delphine Randall, who owns a string of research laboratories – and whose name is linked to a terrorist organization. When Agent Moore, who has been brought out of retirement to deal with this case, informs him of the situation, he tells him that only three men are best qualified to deal with the situation – and two who have fought such a battle in hyper time before... And Zak is asked to take on the challenge of using hyper time to get into Randall's organization and destroy the technology she is building before it is too late, along with a secret agent named Alchemy Fenmore - and the man who created hyper time – Dr Earl Dopler...
Zak agrees to go on the mission, and after some soul searching Earl decides to go with him, even though the machine he is building is almost finished and he knows time is running out, because Zak is a close friend and the late Dr Gibbs was like a father to him. Zak and Earl are taken by Agent Moore to a secret research base known as area 51 – where teleportation has recently been invented – and together with the rather strange and sinister Agent Alchemy Fenmore, take a final journey into hyper time leaving behind the women who love them knowing they may never see them again - because with the heavy security surrounding Randall's organization, this is nothing short of a suicide mission...
Rated T: For adult situations, some violence and some strong language.
Disclaimer: * I own nothing, this is a work of fan fiction.*
Chapter 1
As Earl Dopler sat alone in his apartment, he wondered if calling Zak Gibbs had been the right thing to do; he hadn't seen him for five years, not since the death of his father...
As he thought about George Gibbs and the way he died, Earl felt a weight grow heavy in his heart and he gave a sigh of despair:
He regretted a lot of things. He hadn't meant to tinker with Dr Gibb's anti aging invention – but he did, and as a result had spent several years living with the Gibbs family, stuck in a teenage body because the machine had taken his age reversal back too far.
Then, when Dr Gibbs was dying, he had caused a scene, criticizing his treatment, he had only been trying to explain that the doctor's attempts to save him were useless, that he needed science instead of medical intervention – but at the time, that science was no where near developed enough. Back then Earl hadn't even thought of a way to reverse the damage caused by extended stays in hyper time...
After Dr Gibb's death, he had made his biggest mistake of all - tampering with the watch and spending several days in hyper time, trying to make himself older again. It had worked, but aged him too much – and Zak's sister had been furious with him. More than furious - she had, in fact told him she hated him. He could still recall the look in her eyes as she had said the words he would never forget:
"How could you do that Earl?" She had said tearfully, "How could you fool around with hyper time like that? You know it killed my Dad! I hate you; I never want to speak to you again as long as I live..."
Earl had gone to Dr Gibb's funeral but that had been the last time he had seen Zak or the rest of the family.
He really regretted that now.
He had too many regrets...
Earl thought about the message he had left for Zak. He had said very little, not half as much as he wanted to say – but time was running out and he had never meant to burn bridges like this.
He had never expected to find out he was showing the same symptoms as Zak's father – but just after his death, it had happened and Earl had figured it out: Dr Gibbs was older when he went into extended hyper time. He had lived for five more years. Earl was half his age when he had been forced into a long stay in hyper time – and working it out the way he had, it meant he had around five years longer to live than Dr Gibbs...
Now that time was almost up.
He was still working on something to fix the problem, to reverse the damage done to his body. But it was starting to show now and he knew that meant there was a real possibility that the cure he was working towards might never happen.
He glanced at the silent phone and gave a sigh as he wondered if Zak would ever call. He had left him a message three days ago and he hadn't got back to him. Maybe he never would...
"Come on, dude!" He said impatiently, "Just call me!"
But the phone stayed silent.
Earl took in a shaky breath as he blinked away tears that blurred his eyes for so many reasons as he grabbed a note pad and began to write:
'Dear Zak – I'm sorry. I'm sorry for a lot of things, mainly walking out on your family like I did – but I couldn't stay around – I didn't want to be a teenager all over again, I just wanted to try and get back to being myself. And I'm sorry for causing a scene when your Dad was dying. But what did you expect me to do, man? I knew there was nothing the doctors could do for him- I know the cure lies in science, not medicine. And it's too late for him now and I'm sorry about that, too. But it's also too late for me. Right after your Dad died I started to get the same kind of problems; little things at first. I'd get breathless, my heart would race- then I started getting dizzy and it would come and go and now it's getting worse. I've been working on something to reverse the damage but I don't think I can finish it in time. I think my time has run out. I know what it was like when your father died. I don't want to die like that, Zak. Nobody knows I have the time traveler's disease. I'm keeping it secret because I don't want to wind up in some medical research lab being treated like an experiment. So I'm -'
Earl Dopler stopped writing and looked up from the paper.
His eyes clouded with regret as he looked across the room at the metal chamber that was completed in construction but not completed in programming.
Then he thought about it, made his decision and turned back to the letter:
'- So I'm taking my own way out. I'm ending it all now while I can still make that choice. I feel so alone and that's entirely my fault and I'm sorry, I wish I'd never shut any of you out of my life but I didn't know what else to do. And I'm sorry if it's you who finds me, Zak. And tell Kellie I'm sorry – I wasn't insulting your Dad's memory by going back into extended hyper time – I was just trying to make myself a little bit older and be the guy I used to be. And Zak, I waited for you to call me but I can't wait any longer –and that's not your fault, it's mine. It's all my fault and I'm sorry for that too – Earl Dopler.'
Then Earl put the pen down and glanced back at the note.
Then he looked at his unfinished invention, left the note on the table and went through to the bedroom, picking his way over boxes and junk as walked in there carefully; in the time he had spent building the chamber that was his last hope of survival, this place had started to look more like a work shop than a home.
Then Earl sat back on his bed and for a moment his hand hovered over several bottles of pills.
Then he grabbed one and opened it. He tipped the pills into his hand and estimated there were enough sleepers there to knock him out fast and kill him before he knew about it. He looked at the pills for a moment as he considered backing out – but he was all alone and with time running out and no one to turn to, he guessed this was one time in his life when there could be no more running away from difficult situations.
Earl picked up a glass of water next to the bed and downed six of the pills. Then he looked at the rest of them, feeling strangely calm as he realized he was already overdosed now and a few more would be so easy to take... or maybe not...
"Come on, man..." He said nervously, "Just do this; you've got nothing to lose any more..."
Then he shoved the rest of the pills into his mouth and reached for the water, as his shaking hand knocked the glass it fell to the floor and smashed.
Then the phone rang.
Earl let it ring as he stood there with a mouthful of pills and looked at the shattered glass on the floor.
Then the phone switched to the answering machine and he heard the caller speak:
"Hi Earl, its good to hear from you – it's been too long. I've missed you, we all have...um... you sounded a bit weird when you called...are you okay? If you're there, pick up the phone, it's me, Zak Gibbs... Are you there? If you're there, answer the door – I'm outside."
Earl spat the pills onto the floor... Zak was here right now at the apartment?
He left the bedroom, closing the door behind him and paused to go into the front room and screw up the suicide note before throwing it on the floor next to other discarded papers and general clutter. He thought about the pills he had already swallowed and wondered if maybe that alone was enough to kill him anyway – but if it was, at least he would get to see Zak before it was too late...
Zak was knocking at the door now.
"Okay dude, I hear you!" Earl called out, and hurried down the hall to open the door to a friend he had not seen in a long, long time...
Zak knocked again.
"Earl!" He said loudly "Are you okay-"
Zak fell silent as the door opened and he found himself looking at a friend he had not seen for several years.
He stared at him for a moment; last time he had seen Earl Dopler had been at his father's funeral, and back then Earl had just experimented again with prolonged hyper time in an attempt to adjust his age back to his mid twenties. But it had gone wrong; those few days he'd spent in hyper time had aged him rapidly and Earl had come out of it looking around forty years old – but back then, he had looked very good for it.
Now he looked pale and had dark shadows under his eyes. He looked as bad as when Henry Gates had forced him to spend two weeks in hyper time; Earl looked sick. More than that, he looked weak and tired and for a second Zak thought of the way his father had fallen sick...no, Earl couldn't have the same condition, not after all these years... it was the last thing he wanted to think was possible, even for a second...
"Are you okay?" Zak asked him again and this time his voice was hushed.
Earl opened the door wider and stepped back.
"No, but come in any way..."
As Zak went inside Earl shut the door behind him and then looked at Zak: He'd been in his late teens when they'd first met and now Zak Gibbs was in his late twenties. He hadn't changed a great deal and as he looked at him Earl thought back to what had happened five years before.
"I'm sorry."
Zak's eyes clouded with confusion.
"Why are you apologizing? I don't get it; I haven't seen you for five years – none of us have – and suddenly you call me up like its life or death and say you need to see me, what the hell's going on?"
"I'll get to that in a minute. I just wanted to say sorry for the way I walked out on everyone without saying goodbye."
Zak was staring at him again.
Earl blinked.
"What?" He snapped, "What are you staring at me like that for?"
"You're sweating, Earl. You look like shit and I think you need to sit down and take a deep breath or something."
Impatience and frustration flashed in his eyes as he looked back at Zak. He hadn't expected it to be easy, to see him again after the way he left, but time was running out and he hadn't expected it to be this difficult to explain...
"I look like shit? Is that all you've got to say to me? Dude, I'm trying to explain something to you!"
Zak caught a flash of something in Earl's eyes that bothered him- desperation, fear, it was something close to that and as he took a step forward and leaned against the wall to hold himself up, Zak reached out to steady him.
"I'm listening. But let's go and sit down, okay?"
"Okay." Earl said, feeling weary all of a sudden.
Zak put his arm around him and helped him past boxes and junk and clutter and they went into the front room where they sat down together on a couch.
"What's that?" He wondered, looking at a metal chamber no bigger than a coffin that was over on the other side of the room.
Earl shook his head.
"It doesn't matter now. It was something I was working on but I'll never get it finished."
And Zak heard it in his voice and saw it in his eyes; there was something too final about the way Earl had said that.
"What's going on?" He asked him.
Earl gave a sigh.
"I just wanted to see you. I wanted to say sorry for the way I left like I did. I wanted you to know I regretted that. You were all like family to me. And I never meant to kick off the way I did when your Dad was sick. I was only trying to help, I was trying to point out that he couldn't be cured by anything other than science but nobody would listen to me –"
Earl had tears in his eyes.
Zak put his hand on his arm and briefly gave him a squeeze.
"It's okay, I know that! You loved my Dad like he was your own father; I know you were trying to help. It was a difficult time for all of us. And Kellie didn't understand why you wanted to risk your life just to get a bit older again, not after what happened to my Dad. But she was only a kid, she couldn't put herself inside your head, she couldn't imagine what it was like to be a man stuck in the body of a teenager all over again. I get it; you wanted to get yourself back to normal. I'm sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted to but what age did it leave you at, forty? That's not so bad - but Earl, you look terrible right now and I want to know why. You look like you did when I first met you."
Earl avoided his gaze for a moment as he thought about the situation: He had asked to see Zak because he wanted to see his friend one last time and apologize; it wouldn't be fair to tell him the truth, not now... Zak and his family had been through enough grief watching George die and he wasn't about to put them through any more misery.
He took a deep breath and remembered those pills would be kicking in soon. He was expecting to feel drowsy soon too but it wasn't happening, all he was getting was a stomach cramp...
He looked back at Zak.
"Oh it's nothing – I'm just working too hard and not getting enough sleep. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. All I want to be sure of is that we're still friends - that matters to me a lot."
"We never stopped being friends." Zak told him, "You just walked away and we all missed you and now it's good to see you again."
And Zak gave him a hug.
Earl felt choked up and blinked away tears as he let go.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Zak asked him.
Earl ignored that question.
"So how's Francesca?"
"She's fine. And so is our daughter."
"You've got a kid now?"
Zak smiled and took his cell phone from his pocket and showed him a picture of Francesca and a little girl with dark hair and Zak's eyes and her mother's smile.
Earl looked at the picture for a moment and then looked back at Zak.
"I'm happy for you, dude. I'm glad life's been good to you. How's your Mom?"
"She's okay. But she still misses Dad. It's a good thing me and Kellie still live at home."
"Kellie's still at home?"
Zak laughed as he remembered the way Kellie had followed the teenage version of Earl Dopler around like a devoted puppy.
"You used to hate the way she had a crush on you!"
"Can you blame me? I was a man trapped in a teenager's body – the last thing I wanted was her making eyes at me! I used to tell her to leave me alone!"
Then he thought about their parting words and he felt a wave of sadness.
"But I never meant to upset her the way I did – I tried to explain why I used the extended hyper time again but she hated me for it, she thought after the way her Dad died I should stay the hell away from it. She didn't understand how I could put myself at risk after he died the way he did."
"I'm sure she'll understand now – she'll certainly listen if you want to talk to her."
Earl fell silent for a moment.
"There's no point." He finally said, and then he got up.
"What do you mean?" Zak wondered, but Earl avoided the question.
"I need a glass of water. I won't be a minute." He told him.
As he left the room, Zak looked around again at the junk and the clutter and the strange metal chamber on the other side of the room.
Then he got up and went over to it, running his hand along the metal and looking through a small window at the interior: it was lined with padding almost like a coffin. There was a control panel inside but the keypad was open and wires were hanging out.
Zak wondered exactly what Earl was trying to build. Ten years ago, they'd kept one of the watches and fooled around with a few brief moments of fun in hyper time- but at the end of the day the watch was the property of Dr Earl Dopler, the man who created hyper time – and Zak had given it back to him. But he saw no sign of the watch or any of the technology he recognized back in the days of the QT Corporation.
Zak walked back towards the couch and tripped over a box, he stumbled but didn't fall and as he looked down he noticed a partly screwed up letter in Earl's handwriting and caught his own name on the paper.
Zak picked it up and smoothed it out.
"Dear Zak?" He wondered, then he read the rest of the letter...
Earl left the bathroom after splashing his face with water and then went into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and quickly filled it with water, wondering if he could keep himself together for much longer; those pills had made him feel lousy and not in the way he was expecting – he felt like he had an upset stomach and it was getting worse by the minute. Then the room span violently and he caught his breath.
He thought he was falling as he leaned against the kitchen sink and closed his eyes but then Zak was by his side.
Zak turned him around slowly and told him to breathe.
Earl took in a breath and the room stopped spinning.
He opened his eyes and looked at Zak and saw that he was crying.
Zak held up the suicide note.
"You've got it too? You're sick like my father? That's why you wanted to see me, I get it now..."
Earl looked into his eyes and instantly regretted being so careless with that note; he had never intended to upset anyone, especially not Zak.
"I've got no other choice, Zak. I've only lasted this long because I was so young when I first spent a long period in hyper time. No one can help me; I'm not going to die like your father did. I'm taking my own way out while I still have a say in the matter. That metal chamber I've been working on was my last hope. But I'm too tired, I won't finish it now."
Zak wiped his eyes and looked back at the man who he had never stopped thinking of as a friend.
"I'll help you finish it! You can come home with me – come and live with us again, we'll all help you!"
Earl was thinking about what he'd done just before Zak arrived.
"It's too late." He said quietly, "I did something stupid - I took an overdose just before you turned up here."
Zak stared at him, thinking he couldn't have heard him right. Earl had tried to kill himself? But the look in his eyes told him he had heard it right; Earl Dopler was resigned to the fact that he was ready to die rather than face whatever lie ahead in the limited future he had left.
"Where's the pills?"
"In the bedroom."
"How many did you take, what are they?"
"Sleepers. I took half a dozen of them. I was about to take the rest when you called me."
Zak looked closely at Earl.
"You don't look sleepy to me. Are you sure?"
"I'm not stupid, Zak! I know what I took, okay?"
Zak got up.
"Just stay there, don't get up, don't do anything. I'll check out the bottle and call the paramedics."
"No!" Earl said sharply, "Don't you get it? I want to do this – I've come to the end of the line there's no hope left and there's not enough time left – Zak, get back in here!"
But Zak had already left the room and Earl got up and followed him into the bedroom.
He looked around at the pills all over the floor and then grabbed the empty bottle, noticing Earl had several medications next to his bed, they were all cluttered up and he could only guess at how long he could go on dosing himself like this before his efforts stopped working.
Then he glanced at the label on the bottle.
"Look man," Earl said to him, "If I'd known you were on your way I never would have done the OD but I felt like the time was right and I had no choice."
Zak read the label on the bottle and then looked back at Earl as he thought it strange that even at a time like this he had found something to smile about.
"What's so funny?" Earl demanded, "I'm a sick man, I'm about to end it all and you're smiling about it?"
Zak was still smiling as he showed him the bottle.
"These aren't sleeping pills, Earl. You picked up the wrong bottle. These are laxatives."
Earl swiftly left the room and ran to the bathroom.
As he closed the door Zak spoke up again.
"When you finally get out of there I think you should come home with me. I'll have the stuff you're working on moved too, I'll help you finish your work. Don't think about dying, Earl. You're not alone any more."
He felt pretty sure that he heard him even though he gave no reply.
After waiting for a while, Zak finally heard the toilet flush and moments later Earl came out of the bathroom.
As he went back into the front room he caught a smirk on Zak's face and glared at him.
"It's not funny!"
Zak was still smiling.
"It is." He told him, "And better than that, it means you didn't get to kill yourself. Now you have to come home with me - come on Earl, think about this: You and me can finish building the chamber together. You won't be on your own my whole family are there and they will be so pleased to see you again, especially my Mom."
"But not Kellie, because she hates me." He reminded him.
"Kellie doesn't hate you! She's grown up now, she's..." Zak paused, trying to think of a flattering way to describe his now grown up sister – and it was a bit of a struggle.
"She's still pushy and loud and talks on the phone to her friends every chance she gets, she still asks me for money sometimes and she likes to get her own way. "
"So she's still Kellie. She hasn't changed. That means she still hates me."
"No, Earl! She's still Kellie but she's grown up now. She never hated you; she just said that because she was feeling upset when our Dad died. She never meant anything she said to you."
Earl looked at him doubtfully.
"Do you really think this will make a difference to the outcome for me? If I can't fix this thing, if I can't finish it in time I could wind up dying just like your father did and then your family will have to go through all that pain again and that's not fair."
"Don't think like that."
As he spoke, Zak had sounded very sure about that.
"Things will work out just fine, you just have to believe that – and remember from now on, you're not alone."
He saw a flicker of doubt in Earl's eyes but then it was gone as he felt Zak's hand on his shoulder and he saw the look in his eyes that reminded him their bond of friendship was stronger than ever; it made him feel like maybe hanging on a little while longer and trying to work on the cure might actually be a good idea after all.
"Thanks, Zak." He said, "I'm definitely taking you up on that offer. "
Zak breathed a sigh of relief – Earl was definitely safer now, once he was back home with him the whole family would rally round and do whatever they could to help him out. That would make him feel stronger, that would help him to keep his will to live and maybe they would even have time to finish his invention...suddenly things didn't seem so bleak any more.
"Let's go right now." Zak told him, "Don't worry about moving your stuff, I'll get that done in the next couple of days."
Earl stared at him.
"I don't think I should just turn up on your doorstep, your family haven't seen me for a long time."
"They'll be glad to see you." He promised him.
He thought about it.
"Kellie won't."
"Yes she will!"
Earl still had a flicker of doubt in his eyes.
But then he cast a glance around the apartment that looked more like a workshop and guessed he would be better off at the Gibb's house again.
"Okay, I'll come with you."
Earl grabbed his leather jacket that was draped over the back of the sofa and put it on.
Zak headed for the door.
"I mean it, Earl – my family will welcome you back."
"I'm sure they will." He said, "But you'll have to wait...I've got to go again!"
And he dashed back into the bathroom.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Zak found himself smiling as he thought about Earl's mistake and shook his head. At least it had only been laxatives; Earl Dopler was brilliant scientist but Zak was glad despite his brilliance he was clumsy and dumb enough to have picked up the wrong pills...
When they drove back to Zak's house and parked outside, Earl felt strange to think it seemed like only yesterday when he had fooled around with Dr G's anti-aging device and turned himself back into a teenager. He regretted repeating the extended stay in hyper time because he had wound up aging too much again, but he couldn't regret deciding to do it in the first place because he had just been trying to put himself right, even if Kellie had hated him for doing it...
He got out of the car but Earl hesitated.
"Come on." Zak said to him, "What's the matter?"
Zak got out of the car and put on his dark glasses to hide the shadows under his eyes.
"It feels strange coming back here after all this time."
Zak brushed that remark aside.
"Let's go and see my Mom."
They went up the path to the front door and Zak opened it and stepped inside and Earl followed.
As he looked around he was surprised to see this place had barely changed at all.
"Mom!" Zak called out, "I've got a surprise for you!"
Jenny Gibbs came out of the kitchen and walked up the hall looking like time couldn't have insulted her if it tried; she still had honey colored hair and the same sparkling eyes that lit up when she smiled that didn't seem to show a lie on her face. George's death had taken its toll on her and broken her heart, but that heartbreak had not played havoc with her looks; she was still pretty.
"Earl!" She exclaimed, and gave him a big hug.
As she stepped back she smiled at him.
"It's so good to see you! It's been too long –"
"Mom."
She looked at her son, her smile fading as she heard the serious tone in his voice.
"What's the matter?"
Zak glanced at Earl and he gave a heavy sigh.
"This is the part I don't want talk about." He said quietly.
"I'll tell her."
"Tell me what?" Now Jenny was getting worried as she looked back at her son.
Zak had never thought this would be easy. But Francesca was picking Maria up from school and Kellie was out and now was the best time to tell his Mom, because she needed to know first, he could always explain to the rest of the family later on – but his Mom would be the one who took the news the hardest, because of how his Dad had died...
"Earl's working on a machine to reverse the damage he sustained from his extended stay in hyper time. I want him to live with us while he works on it."
"Fine," Jenny replied, "You can use the basement – George often liked to work down there."
Then she thought about what her son had just told her.
"What did you say the machine's for?"
This time Earl explained it clearly.
"It's to reverse the damage done to my cellular structure caused by staying too long in hyper time ten years ago. It works on a similar principle to a decompression chamber, the sort that divers use if they come up to the surface too fast, but on a hyper time level..."
And then he fell silent.
His words had suddenly made sense in the worst possible way and Jenny stared at him.
"Earl, are you trying to say –"
He nodded.
"That's right, I was younger than your husband when I spent too long in hyper time – but that just bought me a few more years than George had. I've got it too – I've got the time traveler's disease. And I don't have much time left to get his machine working. It's all I've got left to hope for."
And Earl took off his shades and Jenny saw the deep shadows under his eyes.
She knew she was becoming tearful as she looked at him, then she gave him a hug.
"Oh Earl, I'm so sorry for you, honey!" She said as she tried to hold back from crying, "Don't worry, you can stay here- and we'll all do everything we can to help you, I promise you we'll do that."
As she let go of him he looked sadly into her eyes.
"I never wanted to come back here and bring reminders of the past, like how your husband died... but thank you, thanks a lot for letting me stay."
Jenny spoke with compassion in her voice, holding back the tears she wanted to weep that were better off wept privately, "You're welcome to stay here Earl." She reminded him, "You should always think of this house as your home, you know that."
Zak took an overnight bag from Earl's grasp and carried it for him.
"Come upstairs – I'll help you get settled in. You can have your old room back."
And Earl laughed as he followed him up the stairs.
"The room I had when I was teenage Dopler?"
"Yeah, that's the one!"
Jenny stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched as Earl and her son went up, still talking about old times. Then she turned around and went back into the kitchen, where she closed the door firmly and leaned against it, letting out quiet sobs as she thought of the loss of her husband, of how the condition that killed him would probably kill Earl, too. She thought about Zak, who could lose his friend after only just finding him again – and then she thought of her daughter Kellie, who she felt sure did not hate Earl like she said she did all those years before – in fact, she suspected her feelings were quite the opposite underneath –Kellie would take this badly too...
Then she took a deep breath and carried on making the dinner because it would do no good to anyone to sit around crying, even if there was a real possibility that soon both her children would be crying again because Earl had the same disease that had taken their father, and grief was the worst pain in the world, the one thing she wished she could protect her kids from – but this was life, death was a part of it and protecting them from any of this was utterly impossible...