Chapter 2

[Previously: "We really need to talk," Naldo said, his expression grave.]

"What do you mean we have to talk?" Cyd asked. "Naldo, what happened between me and Shelbs?"

"Nothing," Naldo replied slowly. "Nothing happened between the two of you. It's—it's what happened to Shelby."

"We have to talk about what happened to me?"

"What happened to Shelby?" Cyd asked. Naldo stood silently, refusing to answer or say anything in reply. "Naldo," Cyd spoke with more authority in her voice. "What happened to Shelby?" she repeated.

"Um, we better sit down," Naldo said, motioning towards the bench the girls had vacated a couple minutes prior.

Cyd and Shelby turned to each other with confused expressions. What could be so serious that they needed to sit down for Naldo to tell them about it? Why couldn't he just tell them while they stood there to talk? However, slowly and reluctantly, Cyd and Shelby walked back to the bench and Naldo sat down next to Cyd while she sat between him and Shelby. "So, what it is you needed to tell us, Naldo?" Cyd asked, her voice was gentler than it had been before.

"I really hate to have to tell you this, but 15 years ago today, there was a car accident with—with—" Naldo stuttered.

"Naldo?" Cyd asked.

He met her eyes with sadness filling his own as he bit his lip. "I hate having to relive and recall this all. 15 years ago, Shelby, you were driving home from visiting your parents when, when a drunk driver, he—he hit your car head on—" Naldo's voice caught in his throat and tears gathered in his eyes more than they already had. "They told us you were killed instantly," he finished with tears rolling down his checks. "Seeing you now, it's almost like seeing a ghost."

"What?" both Cyd and Shelby exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Naldo managed.

"I—" Shelby began, but she wasn't able to form any other words.

"No, no. That can't— You're—you're lying," Cyd spoke, tears now forming in her eyes at the thought of losing her best friend like that.

Naldo shook his head and pulled his phone out of his pocket. "I swear Cyd, I'm not lying." Naldo opened something on his phone and a minute later, he handed it to Cyd for her and Shelby to see. Cyd held the phone between the two of them as they read.

"This is," Cyd started but the rest of her sentence got caught in her throat.

"My obituary," Shelby spoke slowly. She scoffed in a laugh, "How many people can say they had a chance to read their own obituary," she finished slowly and in a somewhat sarcastic manner.

"I'm sorry, Cyd, Shelby."

"I guess that's why you look the same as you did in our present," Cyd said, finding her voice.

"We wanted to go back to that night and change things. Have you leave and go back to the apartment you, Cyd, and Daisy all had a little earlier or later, but we couldn't jump without you," Naldo explained.

"So, there was no way to change it," Shelby said. "Because in that timeline, we never jumped to the future to know what was going to happen."

Naldo nodded. "As much as we wanted to, there wasn't anything we could do to get you back. Which means we haven't done any time travel since a day or two before the accident. Barry and I still haven't been able to recreate time travel or figure out what I put in that batch of my gel. 15 years and absolutely no luck," he finished under his breath.

"But now we know," Cyd's eyes suddenly lit up. "Just like you said, Shelbs. Now when we jump back, we'll know about the accident, about what's supposed to happen. We'll jump to before the accident happened so Shelby can stay at her parent's house a little longer than she did in original time. You said it's exactly 15 years since the accident happened, so we just write that date down and make sure we stop it all from happening."

"But what if someone else is there and he crashes head on into someone else and kills them instead?" Shelby said.

"You're right," Cyd gave in. "We can't do that to someone else. We can't let someone else's family go through that."

"No, wait," Naldo said. "Shelby, Cyd, you're on to something. We may not have been able to jump back before, but now that you know what happens, you can stop it. And not just stop it from happening to Shelby, stop it from happening to anyone."

"How?" Cyd and Shelby asked at the same time.

"We need to head back to our place, Cyd. There's some things I'll need to show you. And that way we can talk without worrying about being overheard," he added, glancing over his shoulder.

"Right," the two agreed.

"But before we leave," Naldo began as they stood. He moved over to give Shelby a hug. "I know this probably seems somewhat weird because you likely just saw me during our senior year, but it's been 15 years and, well, it's good to see you," Naldo said once the hug ended.

"Well, even though this isn't a great way to see future you, it's nice to see you too," Shelby laughed.

Naldo smiled. "I parked over here," he said, leading the way.

While the trio heading towards the parking lot was three really good friends in reality, people they passed and those who saw them as they walked through the park wouldn't know that. To many of them, it would look more like a couple was at the park with their teenaged daughter since Cyd and Naldo were now in their late 30s but Shelby still looked 18. When the accident had happened, it had been all over the news, so much so that Shelby's family and closest friends heard enough about it and it only extended the pain of losing her. Back then, everyone had known Shelby's name and face; however, 15 years later, there had been other stories that had been moved to the forefront of people's minds. Seeing Shelby didn't spark a memory of anything for anyone who saw her with Cyd and Naldo.

After a short drive, Naldo was pulling into the driveway of a house. He parked the car and lead the way over to the door. "We're back," Naldo called into the house when he, Cyd, and Shelby entered.

"Wait," Cyd said as a sudden thought struck her. "Would I have driven to the park earlier?"

"If this timeline will be erased, it doesn't matter," Naldo waved her off.

"Mama, Daddy, you're home!" a dark haired little boy exclaimed as he ran to meet Cyd and Naldo.

"Mason," a male voice said, coming to the foyer. "Shelby, it—it's really you."

"Barry?"

"Ye—yeah."

Naldo reached down to pick up the little boy who had come to meet them. Cyd knew he was her son from the family pictures she and Shelby had looked at while they waited for Naldo to get to the park. "Where's our daughter?"

"Daisy's with her in the other room with our daughter, Grace," Barry explained. "I can't believe it's really you, Shelby. We thought we'd never," Barry trailed off. "Anyway, Daisy, Grace, and, and little Shelby are in the other room."

"Little Shelby?" Shelby asked. "Is your daughter's name Shelby?"

"Yes," Naldo answered. "It was sort of something we did in your honor because you were gone," he explained.

"Why don't Daisy and I take the kids up to their rooms while you guys talk," Barry offered.

Naldo nodded. Barry went to get Daisy and their daughter as well as Naldo and Cyd's kids so they could head up to their rooms. Once they had gone upstairs, Naldo, Cyd, and Shelby headed to the living room and sat down to talk about everything they needed to.

"I guess the first thing to know would be the date the accident happened," Shelby began.

"April 26, 2024. We had all been out of college for about a year. You two had an apartment with Daisy. You had gone to see your parents, Shelby. I don't remember what for. But the story for the guy, Ralph Carter, was that he was at a bar with a friend who had taken his keys because he was beyond over the legal limit to drive. Somehow, he got his car started and drove away before anyone knew what had happened," Naldo was able to easily explain. "Do—do you want to know anything more about what happens from there?"

"No," Cyd and Shelby answered together.

"Where did he come from, like what bar?" Shelby asked.

"I don't remember that. We have the article about it that we kept. It has everything about that night in it. Approximate time the accident happened and where he was coming from. Do you want any help figuring out how to change it?" Naldo asked as he stood from the couch.

"No," Cyd answered. "We should be fine."

"And I don't think we'll want to tell anyone about this when we get to the present, at least not until it gets closer to the actual date," Shelby added.

"Okay," Naldo said. He left and returned a minute later with a yellowed paper. "Here it is. Be safe guys while you work everything out."

"We will," Cyd answered. Another minute later, Cyd and Shelby high fived to jump back to their present with the article in hand. They were going to stop the accident from ever happening no matter what, and they were going to make sure no one else became the victim as well.

A/N: In this chapter I take a little bit of a head canon I have where the group discovered that Daisy was supposed to be in the 21st century and that they were supposed to take her back – kind of like how Cyd and Shelby had to get Shelby's Grandma Rita and Grandpa Paul together. So with Daisy, they basically get her to the 21st century and the kingdom goes to someone else like a relative of Daisy's instead.

I don't specifically say any of the ages the kids are, but if anyone would want to know, Cyd and Naldo's kids Little Shelby and Mason were 6 and 3, and Barry and Daisy's daughter Grace was 4.

Thanks for the reviews, favorites, and follows on the first chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed this one as well. Thanks for reading,

-CrazyHayniac