AN: On the eve of Senator Clarke's visit, Doug walked through the corridors of the Tic Toc Complex. Enjoy and let me know, what you think.
Wandering through the quiet, dimly lit corridors of Tic Toc complex always had a soothing effect on him. But not tonight. Tomorrow would be a crucial day. The day, when his big dream maybe came to an end. The dream of traveling in time.
He remembered his childhood. His parents, ever so busy, ever so distant. They were successful in their occupations and they never had much time for their only son. Sometimes he wished to be far away, in another universe or in another time. He saw himself as a knight, as an explorer of foreign countries or as a Marshal like Wyatt Earp. He never saw himself as a surgeon like his father or an astronomer like his mother. The relation between his parents were polite but aloof. There wasn't much warmth, much love.
He excelled in school, had a natural talent for mathematics. Numbers and calculations became his friends.
At university he found real friends, only few, but for the first time he wasn't an outsider. He was shy, withdrawn and never noticed the girls at the campus, which regarded him with favor.
He liked sport, in the summertime he and his buddy's went swimming a lot, he liked playing tennis and so he looked nothing like a bookworm. He excelled also in his studies, gained knowledge not only in mathematics, but quantum physic and history. And always was there this dream. The dream to go back in time and have a look at the events who took place long time before he was born.
His parents died in a car crash shortly after he got his graduate degree in science. The foremost memories of them were the survival trips with his father. And of his mother, explaining the star constellations to him.
He found a girl and thought himself in love, but it don't lasted long.
The numbers and calculations became his only friends again. And then he got the opportunity to make his dream come true.
With the realization of project Tic Toc came the responsibility. But for him it wasn't a burden. Five years of planning and supervising the construction work and finally he could begin. His relation to his co-workers was friendly, but restrained. He liked to work with Dr. Raymond Swain and also with the military leader, General Kirk. At some times he had the feeble feeling, that something was missing in his life, but he wasn't sure, what it could be.
He had of course emotions, but he could not show them.
One day Raymond Swain talked to him about hiring a new scientist, who could do calculations and work at the control desk. He was far away with his thoughts and only nodded, when Ray told him about a scientist, he was acquainted with.
He forgot the talk, much to busy with his work at and in the tunnel helices. Success was rare and setbacks the order of the day. He took it in stride, never complained but likewise never rejoiced. He stayed for himself. Only seldom he shared the meals with others. He spoke rarely about himself and although there were many young and attractive women in the tunnel complex, he took no notice. With time he had come to trust Dr. Swain and General Kirk and opened up to them a bit.
He was content with his life, he knew it not differently.
Then came the day, when Ray brought the new colleague.
He didn't know, if Ray had forgotten to tell him, that the new scientist was a woman or if he had not listened. The last was more probable. And so he was ill-prepared for the sight of the young, beautiful woman with auburn hair and green eyes, which Ray introduced as Dr. Ann MacGregor. He had worked in the tunnel and had grease on his shirt and on his hands, and as he later learns, on his face, too. But he don't cared, the only thing he saw, was the faint smile on her face and the light in her eyes. She wore her hair in a complicated up-do and he wished he could see her with her hair down.
And she wasn't only beautiful, she was intelligent, and very interested in his work. She accepted the offer to work for Tic Toc. And he felt something like happiness for the first time since long.
It took him not very long, to notice, that Ann was reticent as himself. If it was her unobtrusive behavior, or her undeniable knowledge, he didn't know, but he felt attracted to her. Nonetheless it took him more than a year, to acknowledge that they shared a special kind of friendship.
Their teamwork was fruitful and more and more the constellation were shifted. At first Ray worked the most of his time with Ann, but now it were him and Ann, who worked often together and discussed things, he formerly only talked about with Ray. Kirk and Swain noticed also, that Doug was more relaxed, more open and that he actually sometimes smiled.
When Dr. Anthony Newman joined the Tic Toc team, he brought new energy and power with him. Doug, who was a couple of years older than his new co-worker, had a hard time, to accept the youngest graduate in science.
But soon enough he appreciated the ideas of the resourceful man. While an unobtrusive friendship with Tony was formed, his relation with Ann changed in a subtle way.
While he and Tony quarreled often enough about their work, Ann was the calming influence. Without many words only with her presence, she understood to appease them.
When Tony worked until late in the tunnel helices, Doug and Ann made their calculations together and discussed often till deep in the night.
If someone had told Doug, that he was on a fair way to fall in love with Ann, he would have denied it. Love was a foreign concept to him, but it took not long, to became aware, that something bothered him. The easiness how Tony treated Ann, made Doug uneasy. Unsure how he should act, he watched them both until Sergeant Jiggs, of all people, advised him that Ann surely would like it, to be courted by him. Another foreign concept for Doug, but when he asked her for a date, she accepted with apparent joy.
They met for dinner in the staff canteen, for a tennis match in the leisure area or for a swim in the pool. It wasn't a real date, because they saw each other daily and sometimes worked together the whole day long.
While he was still walking, Doug smiled to himself. He was gone a long way, from the lonely boy to a reticent but self-assured man, who could accept his feelings as well as the feelings of others.
He never talked about love, but Ann knew him well enough, to know his feelings for her, or so he thought. She was always there for him, no matter what happened.
And now, after ten years of his work for Project Tic Toc, it came to a decision. The government wanted to see successful results. But as yet, they had only sent objects and lab-rats into time. And never brought them back. Tomorrow he had to use all his knowledge, all his persuasion to talk the Senator into the continuation of Tic Toc. The restlessness wouldn't leave him. Tony worked in the tunnel to relieve his worries.
As Doug went to his quarters he saw a light under Ann's door.
He hesitated but knocked however. Ann was awake and had waited for him. They spent the night together, lying in each others arms, talking until they had fallen asleep.
When he awoke Ann was lying with her head on his chest, her hair spreading over him like a fan and her hand caressing his thigh. He wanted lying forever in this embrace, but today was the day. Ann kissed him tenderly and assured him of her assistance with the Senator. Vowing to himself, that he would tell her how much he love her, when the visit from Clark was over, he rose from the bed, drawing her up and whispered in her ear that he would never leave her.