Chapter Seven: Waiting

Tuesday, June 5th, 2018

"What happened to the rug?" Tucker asked, eyes widening when he noticed the nice round circle of ash where the rug used to be.

"Abbi did that. I think it was some sort of ghost ray," Sam murmured, sinking into a chair beside the table. The breakfast she'd made for Abbi and herself laid forgotten on the table, having grown cold a long time ago.

Phantom stood beside his wife, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We will get her back, I promise." Sam merely placed her own hand over his. When she didn't respond Phantom turned to the genie ghost hovering awkwardly in the door way. "Desiree, I want to know what Abbi's wish was, exactly word for word."

"Her desire? She spoke her wish as such: I wish I could go back in time, to meet my dad, so he can help me with my powers. I simply did as she asked," Desiree replied. "You know once I hear a wish I must grant it."

"You normally grant it in an undesirable way," Phantom replied dryly.

"Most simply leave their wishes very open ended. The child, Abbi, did a pretty good job with her wish," Desiree seemed rather impressed as she said this, almost happy to have been able to grant a well worded wish.

"So, if I were to word my wish correctly, could I retrieve my daughter without damaging time?"

"Unfortunately, no. I've stated that you already exist in the time she has gone back to so if you did go back, no matter how the wish was worded, there would be no way to prevent you and your past self from joining." When Desiree received an angry look she added, "My King," and bowed for good measure.

"So when will she appear in history. I've had my powers since I was fourteen. Surely you didn't send her back to a time where even I didn't have control over my powers, did you?"

"I do not know when she will appear in history," the genie replied, and again received an angry look. "An-Any part of the wish could determine the time she lands in history. 'I wish I could go back in time' could mean any point before she existed. Adding to that 'to meet my dad' could be any time after you and Sam are born, ensuring that her existence will happen. Adding again 'so he can help me with my powers' will mean you will have to have your powers as well. I do believe it would be at a point where you had relative control over them as you wouldn't be able to help her with her own power if you didn't have control over your own. Beyond that I cannot say."

"So, it could be any time after my fight with the Lunch Lady… that was the first time I felt I had control over them, even if it was new and I only had a few powers then. Or any time up to Sam becoming pregnant, is that correct?"

"I would agree, my King, yes."

"That's a big window…"

"So, she must have gone back about twenty years," Tucker joined in, adding his two cents worth. This brought Sam out of her thoughts.

"Twenty years? That's a rather specific guess."

"It's a nice round number, and a nice time to land in the past too. Danny's powers were still rather new to him, giving him a good understanding of Abbi's lack of control. If you ask me, that is," Tucker replied, shrugging as he pulled out a kitchen chair and sat down himself, eyeing the vegetarian meal in front of him with distaste.

"Any time isn't a good time Tuck. She could say something about being our child and cause herself to never be born, she could try and get us together before we are ready, causing herself to never be born, she could reveal to my parents who I am or who she is and end up with us on a laboratory table getting dissected, causing herself to never be born. She could-"

"Okay, okay I get it, she could cause herself to never be born. But think about it guys, Abbi is a smart girl. How many movies about time travel and science fiction has she seen? Anyone would know, even if it was only a fictional truth, that messing with the time stream could lead to disaster. Abbi would know this too. She's a smart girl, she won't mess up like you're saying and cause you two to not end up together," Tucker reasoned. "Sam, you said that Abbi was mad about seeing you kiss Danny, right? Abbi has always been fiercely protective of her father, even having never truly known the man-"

"Tucker that's-"

"I know that's not your fault, dude, and I'm not saying it is. You have no control over this stuff Danny, that's not what I'm getting at. What I'm saying is, Abbi is fiercely protective of you, when she meets you as a teen she will want to protect you – well… protect might be the wrong word… - She was upset at the idea that her mother kissed someone that wasn't her father, right? She will want to make sure you two are together and that you aren't interested in anyone else. Depending on how old you are when she arrives that might not be a problem." Tucker looked between his two best friends, trying to get them to understand. "Sure, seeing you crushing on Paulina or Val, or Sam crushing on that Gregor/Elliot kid, that might make her try and interfere, but I don't think anything she does will stop you two getting together. You two were going to happen with or without anyone's help or interference. So, don't worry about that part. What she seems to be going back in time to do is simply meet you. Get to know you, dude. What's so bad about her wanting to know her dad? Even if it's only as a teenager himself?"

The room was silent for a long time. Sam watching Phantom and Phantom focused on the floor. He would never admit it but he was holding back tears. He understood what Tucker was saying. Abbi didn't know him, and he didn't know Abbi much at all either. Sure, Sam told him everything about her and how she was doing, what she was doing, what she liked and didn't like. But that wasn't truly knowing her like a father should. Again, he found himself wanting to have tried harder to be in her life, to find a way around the barriers his ghost half caused and be the father he had planned on being when Sam first told him she was pregnant.

He felt Sam squeeze his hand, but he couldn't meet her eye.

"Let's give her some time, if she really went back to meet you… and learn to control her powers, that's not going to happen very fast," Tucker finished saying after sitting in silence for what felt like eternity waiting for a reply that would never come.

"Only time will tell, guys."

Posted 8/25/18

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Morning Bleach