Mis amigos! Look, a new chapter!
I know some people weren't happy about the truth of Tucker's wife. There will be a bit more controversy coming up in this chapter…but just stick with me here! I promise there will be a happy, satisfying ending for all. Thanks!
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Hours later, Tara stood in front of the time machine, now a mess that was shoved to a corner of the lab. She searched through the parts, holding each piece up at a time.
"Maybe if I put this together with this…and connect it to that thing…ugh, how am I going to stick them together?… Super glue?"
The clattering sounds of the parts being shuffled through made her unaware of Tucker coming down the stairs behind her.
"Super glue? Really?" she said to herself. She smacked her head with her palm. "Come on, Tara! Think, think, think!"
Tucker smirked. He tiptoed up to her.
"Okay, maybe not super glue…maybe a hot glue gun? Wait, isn't that the same thing? Ugh! This isn't paper-mache, Tara! Oh man, if this is the best I can think of, I'm never getting myself back home…"
"Aaaaahhh!" Tucker gave a deafening scream.
"Aaaaahhh!" Tara screamed back, triggering her into her ghost self.
"Hahahahaha!"
Tara turned around.
"Tucker!" she said and changed back to her normal, human self. "That wasn't funny!"
"Yeah it was! Oh, come on. Don't look so angry. You know that was funny."
"Not when I'm working!"
"You did the same thing to me last night, remember?"
Tara blinked, then dropped her hands, curled up in fists, from her hips.
"Ah, crud."
"Exactly. Anyway, you seemed too hard on yourself just now. You'll get out of here, just leave it to your parents. And, if worse case scenario you don't, you're always welcome to be the fourth member of our group."
"Ha! Really?"
"Yeah! You're pretty awesome. And you've got a good sense of humor."
"Huh. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."
Tara smiled at him, and Tucker immediately blushed.
"Uh…oh yeah! I got my jacket back. Thanks."
"Why are you thanking me? I didn't do anything," she said with a smile.
"Uh huh," he said, catching on to her teasing tone. "So how did it get in my room, on my bed?"
"Probably sprouted legs and ran over there?"
"Oh yeah. Totally plausible."
Tara laughed out loud with Tucker.
All of a sudden, her face dropped.
"Hey, we're good, right? From yesterday?"
"Yeah, we're good. I'm sorry I stormed off like that. It was really immature. Let's just forget about that, okay?"
"I'd like that."
"Great! Great."
"So, what are you doing down here?"
"Just wanted to hang out. You got time to talk a bit, Miss Fenton-Calculus-Genius?"
Tara grinned from ear to ear. "Pre-Calculus. But sure."
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The clock seemed to have sped from 4 pm to 6:15 pm; Tara and Tucker were still sitting up against a wall, laughing out loud.
"Wait, wait, and you still ate it?"
"Yup!"
"Wow, Tara! You're fearless!"
"Hahahaha! Hardly!"
Tucker struggled to catch his breath. "Okay, it's your turn to ask a question."
"Hmmm…favorite…color."
"Green. What's yours?"
"Orange. I've always wanted orange hair."
"Really? Why?"
"Because it's a savvy color!"
"You could always dye it, if you want to."
"Yeah, but I want a natural orange color. I want to have naturally orange hair."
"Guess it's too late for that."
She chuckled. "Yeah."
"Tucker? Tara?"
Sam and Danny came walking down the stairs.
"Hey guys!" Tucker said. "How are ya?"
"Tucker, have you checked your phone lately?" Danny said.
"I set it on silent. Why?"
"'Cause I've sent you text messages for the past two hours, and you haven't responded. We thought you were working at City Hall or something."
"Two hours?"
Tucker and Tara looked up at the ghost-shaped clock hanging on the wall across from them.
"Oh. So it is," Tara said.
"Oh man. I'm sorry, guys," Tucker said.
"Yeah, we've been chatting this whole time," Tara said.
"That's okay. I'm gonna grab a snack from the kitchen. You guys want anything? Sam?"
"I'm good," Sam said.
"Not hungry," Tucker said.
"You know, all this talking has made me thirsty. I'll come upstairs with you and get a glass of water," Tara said.
"Alright, let's go."
She jumped up and followed Danny up the stairs.
When they were gone, Sam turned to Tucker, still sitting on the ground.
"So…had a good conversation?"
"Oh yeah, she's a pretty amazing person, unlike any other girl I've ever met! You guys should be really proud."
Sam furrowed her eyebrows.
"I just want you to keep in mind the situation she's in."
"What do you mean?"
"Tucker, I know that look. I've had that look for years. You like Tara."
"What are you talking about? I'm getting to know her!"
"But here's the thing," she said, without listening to him. "She's from the future. She's going back to the future. Nothing can happen between you two.
It's one thing if she were actually from Canada. A long distance relationship is hard, but it can be done. But she's from another time. There's no telephone or email or anything that can reach across time dimensions."
"You're being ridiculous," he said as he stood up. "She got here, like, a few days ago! No one falls in love that quick.
A-and who says I'm doing anything like that, anyway?! I'm just getting to know her. We can have a connection and just be friends. Isn't that what we decided to do? Act like Tara's like any other person and just be friends?"
"It's hard to just do that when you've got feelings involved! All I'm saying is you can be friends with her. That's fine. But nothing more.
…Plus, not going to lie, it would be weird if you guys got together. You're not just two years older than her. Technically, you're her mom and dad's age."
"I'm not that age right now! Jeez, Sam, you're starting to sound like her mom."
Sam furrowed her brows and opened her mouth to speak.
"We're back!" Tara said, coming down the stairs with Danny.
Sam closed her mouth.
Danny came up next to her and snuck his arm around her waist.
"So, did we miss anything important?" he said.
"Nope," Tucker answered for Sam. "Just a nice, long, awkward talk." He frowned at her.
"What do you…" Danny started.
Suddenly, there was a sound of a door unlocking and opening.
"Danny! We're home!" Jack yelled.
"My parents!" he whispered.
The group looked at Tara.
"We gotta hide her," Sam said.
A loud thumping of footsteps came from above them.
"And fast!" Tucker said.
"Danny? You down there?" Jack's voice rang from the top of the stairs.
"Uh, yeah, dad. Right here," Danny stammered.
Creak, creak, creak! Jack headed down to the basement.
"Tara! Quick! Turn yourself invisible!" Tucker said.
"Uh, right!"
Bink!
Jack hopped off the last step.
"Danny!…aaaand Sam and Tucker!" he said as he walked towards the group.
"Hey there, Mr. Fenton!" Tucker said, with nervous enthusiasm. "H-how's it going?"
"Going good, Mr. Mayor. Going good. Hey, why are you sweating so much?"
"Oh, me?" The pitch in his voice raised. "I'm not sweating at all! Am I sweating, Danny? Nah, I just ran over here, that's all! Or maybe it's the heat! Phew! Anyway!"
Behind a very confused Jack, Sam signaled a zipper-like action across her mouth and Danny made quick cutting motions with his hand against his throat.
"Anyway…" Jack said. He then turned around to Danny and Sam, who quickly stopped their signals and put on angelic, smiling faces.
Maddie suddenly came running down the stairs with a beeping Fenton Finder in her hands. Dani quickly followed.
"Jack, I'm getting an ecto-reading in our house!"
"What?!" He looked at the screen with Maddie.
"Are-are you sure it's not just a reading of me? Or Dani?" Danny said.
"I've already got your DNA in the Fenton Finder, as well as Dani's. There's no way it could recognize any of you as a threat," Maddie said.
Dani tugged on Tucker's shirt until he bent down to her level.
"What's going on? What's the Fenton Finder picking up on?" she whispered.
"Tara."
"Oh, crud!"
The alarm on the gadget suddenly became fainter.
"It's moving! Follow the GPS!" Jack yelled.
Danny, Sam, Tucker, Dani rushed up the stairs.
"Kids, wait up! I want to take the first whack at the intruding ghost! Maddie, grab the weapons!"
The teenagers reached the first floor of the house.
"Spread out!" Danny said.
They nodded and ran to cover different areas of the house.
"Tara?" Danny whispered as he searched the living room.
Sam walked around the kitchen. "Tara?"
Dani and Tucker went upstairs.
"Tara!" Tucker said as he crossed the hallway.
Dani opened the door to her room. She sighed with relief.
"Tucker! Tucker, get over here! I found her!"
From underneath the bed, Tara poked her head out.
"Thank goodness it's just you."
"Did you really think hiding under the bed would keep you from getting caught?! Your hair was sticking out! Whatever, you've just gotta get out of here!"
All of a sudden, Tucker pushed past Dani towards Tara.
"Hey!" Dani exclaimed.
"I'm so sorry," Tara said as Tucker helped her up. "I panicked. I didn't know where to go."
"That's okay, Tara. We just gotta figure a place where you can hide until we can come and get you."
"It's upstairs!" Jack boomed.
"Eep!" squealed Tara.
"Let's go!" Dani whispered.
Tucker pushed on Tara's back and moved her out of the room. Dani opened the door to Jazz's room at the end of the hallway.
"Come on, come on, come on!" she hissed. She quickly shut the door once Tara ran in.
Jack and Maddie finally reached the top of the stairs.
"Now, where is that little runner?" Jack said.
"Ghost directly ahead. Walk forward," spoke the Fenton Finder.
"Dad! Hey! H-have you guys tried looking in my room? Or-or-or Danny's room?" Dani stuttered.
"But, sweetie, the Fenton Finder isn't telling us to go left or right. It's saying to go straight," Maddie said as she walked with Jack towards the end of the hallway.
The beeping sound of the Fenton Finder became more rapid.
"We're getting warmer!" Jack said.
"It's in Jazz's room!" Maddie said, and she grabbed a cannon-shaped weapon from her back.
"No, wait!"
"Get out of the way, Tucker!" Maddie pulled Tucker away from the door.
"HIYAH!" Jack busted the door down with one kick and ran inside.
The room was empty.
"Ghost is out of the homebase. Thank you for using the Fenton Finder."
"What?! Well, where is it then?!"
"Oh, let's just forget it, Jack. If it comes back, I'm sure one of our ghost-fighting kids will get it," Maddie said with a disappointed look.
"Aww! But that's no fun."