So I've had chapter 21 finished since Sunday night, but I decided to wait until I got a bit ahead to post it. I've also finished chapters 22 and have most of the work on 23 finished. I'm going to be splitting my time between grading and writing this weekend, so hopefully I can get all my work done, and give you guys more chapters. This chapters ends the regressed rangers saga, and begins the final wave of chapters leading towards the rangers return to 2004, which I am very excited about. Granted, I'm pretty excited about the chaos that begins in chapter 23 as well. I have had plot bunnies hopping around in my head all week giving inspiration for the final '95 chapters, the '04 chapters, and a possible sequel. So I'm confident my imagination will cooperate and allow me to finish this story.
Anyway, that was a rather wordy AN. Hope you enjoy,
Fateless
"What took you guys so long?" Kimberly asked as Dr. Oliver and Billy materialized in the command center with Ethan and the four children of the group. "I thought they'd be in a rush."
"Your boyfriend helped hog tie me to a chair until I agreed to take them to the youth center," Ethan muttered, glaring at Tommy and Connor. Trent and Kira weren't entirely innocent, but it had mainly been the other two who instigated everything. Kimberly looked at Tommy, her mouth partially open. He gave her a shy smile, blushing slightly as he shrugged his shoulders. Adam, Rocky, and Aisha just laughed.
"Alright guys," Billy interrupted. "We need to decide who's going to the moon, and who's staying here."
"Aren't we all going?" Adam asked him. Billy shook his head no.
"The journey there and back will take a couple of hours, and who knows how long it will take to actually get the moon dust. We need to avoid detection by Lord Zedd and Rita when we arrive. They could also choose to attack the earth and the damage they could do if we left it completely undefended… well; I don't want to contemplate that."
"Billy's got a point," Dr. Oliver put in. Rocky, Aisha, and Kimberly all nodded. "I'll stay here. I can take on Goldar if necessary," he added. "And I can work on plans for getting us back home, in the meantime."
"I'd do the most good here as well," Billy added in with a nod. Ethan also agreed to stay. Between him, Dr. Oliver, and Billy, they could potentially devise a way to get back to Reefside in the twenty first century.
"I'm staying too," Kimberly stated. "Four here puts us at greater than half strength," she added in. "Besides, those four," she stated, jerking her thumb at the four kids who were quietly listening to the decision making, "apparently cannot be trusted."
"Who us?" Connor grinned. He normally would have been more insulted, but the fact that he was pretty sure that he would soon be returning to his rightful age in the very near future was making him extremely happy.
"Yes us," Kira giggled, hitting Connor. Trent and Tommy both blushed, looking down at the ground, clearly realizing that tying Ethan to a chair and threatening to dump multiple cans of tomato sauce over his head and leave him there had been a very bad idea.
"You should go if you want to," Tommy told Kimberly. He didn't want her spending any more time with Dr. Oliver. His only comfort over the course of the day was knowing that he only had one class with her. Any other contact between Dr. Oliver and Kimberly would have been chaperoned by the other rangers.
Kimberly shook her head. "Rocky, Adam, and Aisha can handle it."
Billy nodded his agreement, handing Rocky the small pouch from the clock. "You need to fill the entire thing to the brim," he told him. He handed a second container to Aisha. "Fill this too," he stated. Just in case.
"And where exactly do we take the dust from?" Adam asked him.
"The moon is coated with it," Billy explained. "Like top soil. But it won't be deep enough to just grab handfuls. Your best bet will be to use this," Billy added, as Alpha brought over a tool that looked like a miniature version of a pick axe. Billy took it and handed it to Adam. "Use it to chip away at a moon rock. The dust needs to be as fine as sand. Pebbles won't power the clock."
"I thought this would be easy," Rocky moaned. Aisha gave him a reassuring smile.
"Great," Connor muttered. "So there's more than a slight chance that we're not getting back to normal any time soon."
"We'll do everything we can," Adam assured him, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder. Connor nodded, but he didn't look up from his shoes. Trent and Kira looked worried as well, but Tommy looked straight at his three teammates.
"I know you'll succeed," he told the three of them. "You've never let us down before," he added in with a reassuring smile to them. Rocky, Aisha, and Adam nodded.
"Whenever you're ready Rangers," Alpha told them, flipping a few switches and pressing several lit keys on console in front of him.
"We're ready Alpha," Rocky told him. "We'll be back as soon as we can," he told the other eight in room. Tommy, Kimberly, and Billy nodded, hearts and minds with complete confidence in their teammates. The five dino thunder rangers didn't look up. They weren't as assured of the current rangers' success.
May the power protect you Zordon told them. The three travelers nodded, and placed their right hands behind their back.
"It's Morphin time!" Rocky shouted. The three shifted their arms out in front of them, morphers clutched in their palms.
"Black Ranger Power!"
"Yellow Ranger Power!"
"Red Ranger Power!"
Immediately following their shouts, Alpha initiated the teleport and they were gone.
Rocky wasn't sure how much time had passed since they left the Command Center, but he knew they had definitely been demolecularized longer than the time it took to get from the Command Center to anywhere else in Angel Grove. And he knew he'd also taken longer trips. Still, he, Adam, and Aisha stumbled slightly when they materialized on the surface of the moon.
"This is weird," Aisha stated. Every other time they'd journeyed off the surface of the Earth they'd landed on the planet during the day time, or at least when there was light to see by. Now, all around them was darkness and brilliant burning stars in the night sky. She gazed around her.
"You're telling me," Rocky laughed. Adam just nodded agreement with both of them. "Alright guys," Rocky added in. "Let's get to work. The faster we get out of here, the better."
"Right," Adam and Aisha responded.
"How about that rock over there?" Adam asked, pointing to a relatively large formation of stone jutting out from the surface of the moon. Rocky nodded, and walked over to it, Adam and Aisha behind him. Rocky pulled the small pouch from his belt, while Adam pulled out the pick axe. Together they began harvesting the dust while Aisha took on the job of look out. They'd been working for nearly ten minutes, scraping as much dust off as they could, and the bag was only about an quarter of the way full. "This is going to take forever," Adam put in as he and Rocky switched places.
"I know," Rocky replied. "But we've got to do this for them. Especially Tommy," he stated. "We need him back."
"I agree," Aisha replied. "I just want our team whole again."
"Speaking of Tommy," Adam asked, figuring they might as well talk while they worked. "What do you think has been going on between him, Kimberly, and Dr. Oliver?"
"It's weird right?" Aisha asked, keeping her eyes on their surroundings while the boys chipped away. "Kim won't say anything about it, but she's been avoiding them both as much as possible."
"Yeah," Rocky stated. "And Tommy's been giving Dr. Oliver some really nasty looks. I didn't think it was possible for a child's face to contort that way."
"He's probably pissed off that Dr. Oliver revealed he's not in contact with any of our future selves," Adam put in. "I'm a bit irritated by that too," he added almost as an afterthought.
"Why do you think that is?" Aisha asked. Rocky and Adam both paused to shrug their shoulders, before going back to work.
"Could have something to do with us all not being rangers anymore. It's not like it's the safest job in the world," Rocky said with a bit of humor in his voice. Aisha and Adam nodded agreement with his last statement. "So maybe he thought he was protecting us."
"Yeah right," Aisha snorted. "We showed him what we were capable of well before we became rangers, remember?"
"You've both got a point," Adam interjected. "Tommy's our leader. Even if he knows we're capable of handling the situation ourselves, he's not going to let civilians take the risks. It's possible he thought distancing himself from us would protect us. He's clearly not happy with that decision."
"You noticed that too?" Aisha asked him. Adam nodded. For the last few days it had become more and more obvious to them that Dr. Oliver was not quite as happy with the future he would be returning to. "Just wish he would let us fix it," Aisha added in.
"He might want to," Rocky stated, but then shook his head. "But he can't. It's not his own life he'd be changing. It'd be ours too. Remember, he did say he knew we were all happy. I don't think we've all lost contact with each other. Maybe just him."
"I can't see myself being happy without talking to ALL my friends," Aisha stressed.
"There's also the Dino Thunder Rangers," Adam reminded her. "They're definitely important to him," he added. "Like we are. He doesn't want the future changed to protect them."
"You think we're still important to him in ten years?" Rocky asked.
"Of course," Adam stated. "Contact or not, you can see it in his face. He's regretting the choices he made."
"Well, since we can't fix what happens between now and his present," Aisha stated, "can we at least promise each other that we'll fix his future? I mean, when Billy's device returns our memories, no matter where we are, or what we're doing, we'll drop everything and go to Reefside?"
"Agreed," Rocky stated, and Adam nodded his agreement as well. "No matter what. Now come on," he laughed, "these things aren't going to fill themselves."
Adam, Rocky, and Aisha had been gone for a while when Kimberly looked up and scanned the Command Center. She'd been sitting in the corner, working on homework, quietly listening to everything around her. Dr. Oliver, Billy, and Ethan were working on plans for a time travel device. She couldn't quite understand everything they were discussing, but it seemed like Ethan wanted to use parts of the clock once they'd finished using it to solve the current dilemma. Connor, Kira, and Trent had spent the time sitting in a circle talking in hushed voices about all manner of topics. They were jumping around so much that she couldn't follow their conversation. They touched on technology she didn't understand, school which she did, and a fear that in their absence Reefside may have been destroyed. Dr. Oliver had overheard that one, especially when Trent muttered something about that Haley person. He'd immediately calmed their fears, assuring them that when they did return, he'd make sure they returned to the point immediately after they had left, thereby erasing any damage that was done due to leaving their city and the earth unprotected. At some point, she thought she'd heard her own name pop up in their conversation, but when she'd turned to look at them, Connor was blushing and arguing with his teammates. She tried to put that instance out of her mind. The only other individual present was Tommy. He sat several yards away from her, reading through the notes Dr. Oliver had taken in school for him, a deep frown on his face.
Kimberly closed her text book and stood up, walking over to him, before sitting back down directly beside him. He glanced up at her for a moment, before turning his attention straight back to the notes, glaring at them. "That bad huh?" she asked him, a small kind smile on her face.
"They're perfect," Tommy replied, a bit of annoyance at the fact in his voice. Realizing Kim wasn't going to go away, he closed the notebook and looked at her. She sat, cross legged on the floor of the Command Center, her long brown hair pulled up and attached to the back of her head with a clip. A few wisps had escaped over the course of the day and hung loosely beside her face. She wore one of his favorite pink floral tops that extended to her thighs, and a pair of jean bottoms that ended at her knees. To him, she was beautiful and perfect. But at the moment, all he could think about is what she must think of him, a slightly chubby boy of eight, wearing a white t-shirt and black jeans.
"We need to talk," Kimberly told him simply, her eyes never leaving his. Tommy opened his mouth to protest and promise her that there was nothing to talk about, but she shook her head, cutting him off. "I know it was you who saw." Again, Tommy started to protest, but Kim wouldn't let him speak. "Who else would have slammed the door?" Defeated, Tommy nodded. "There's no excuse for it," Kimberly explained. It was her turn to look away. "I messed up. Big time."
"It's not like you kissed him," Tommy told her. He hadn't blamed her in the slightest. They were boyfriend and girlfriend. They were used to spending time together, with a little bit of physical contact between them. But at the point when she'd kissed Dr. Oliver, Tommy had already spent three days in the body of a boy who gaged at the idea of kissing a girl. He could certainly understand her confusion, especially since Dr. Oliver currently looked exactly like he should have.
"I didn't end it, and I should have," Kimberly contradicted him. "I shouldn't have let it happen in the first place, but he was hurting. I could see it in his face, in your face. In his eyes. For the first time, I recognized them."
"So you reacted the only way you knew to comfort him?" Tommy finished her thought for her. Kimberly nodded and looked back up at him. Tommy was looking over at Dr. Oliver, realizing for the first time how much pain the older version of himself was actually in. He'd told the past rangers that all their future selves were happy; Kira had even said that he himself was happy; but obviously there was more to it, and Kimberly had been the only one to see it.
"Forgive me?" Kimberly asked him. Tommy drew his attention back to her and gave her a smile, before pulling her into a slightly awkward hug.
"Forgiven and forgotten," he replied, letting her go and looking back over at Dr. Oliver.
"You're really upset with him, aren't you?" Kimberly asked. "Not just because of the kiss."
Tommy once again pulled his eyes away from his future self, letting them settle on his girlfriend. Apparently it didn't matter if he was eight, seventeen, or twenty-seven. She could read him like a book. He sighed and nodded. "How could he let them all go? How could he let you go?" he asked her.
"He didn't," Kimberly replied with a sigh. She didn't turn her head, but she dropped her gaze to her lap. "It's my fault."
"What do you mean?" Tommy asked her. Kimberly took a deep breath, and looked back up at him, pushing back her tears. She'd promised herself she wouldn't cry over it again until it actually happened.
"I'm going to be the one to end our relationship," she told him. Tommy looked at her, stunned. He hadn't even contemplated that possibility.
"Paris?" he asked her, fear written across his face. Kimberly shrugged and shook her head. She didn't know when exactly. All Dr. Oliver had told her was soon.
"Apparently, I hurt him, well you, so badly, it made him pull away from everyone else. I don't know when, how, or even why. Tommy, I love you so much."
"I know," he replied, brushing a tear off her face. The adult part of himself wanted to wrap her in his arms and kiss her tears away, but he knew that the awkwardness of the situation would make that a very bad idea. "I love you too," he stated, biting his lip in thought. "Maybe we can think of a way to fix it? You know, one that doesn't mess up everyone else's future."
"You think we could?" Kimberly asked. She used her hand to wipe the rest of the tears off her face.
Tommy just shrugged. "Nothing's impossible. But we do need to be careful. I don't want to ruin things for anyone else. Still, I don't like knowing that you and everyone else aren't part of my life."
"Agreed," Kimberly told him, letting a smile return to her face. "We can do it," she added.
Tommy nodded and sighed. "What time is it anyway? They've been gone a while," he glanced around the Command Center. Kimberly glanced down at her watch.
"Nearly six thirty," she told him. "They've been gone almost three hours."
"Zordon?" Tommy called, standing up and walking towards their mentor. "Do you think Adam, Aisha, and Rocky might be in trouble? Is there anyway of contacting them?"
No Tommy, Zordon replied. Their mission brought them too close to Lord Zedd and Rita's palace. Any transmission we send them could alert our enemies to their presence. We must be patient. I'm sure Rocky and the others would have contacted us if something had gone awry.
"Affirmative," Billy told Tommy. He and the other five rangers in the room had heard Tommy's question to Zordon and come over to hear the answer. "They would have reached out for help."
Kimberly didn't look convinced. "I wish there was some way to have an idea of what's going on."
"Alpha," Billy asked the robot. "Can you scan for traces of energy? Maybe we can find out where they are at the very least."
"Right away Billy," Alpha told him. Billy put his hand on Kimberly's shoulder.
"Alpha will have the results in a minute," Dr. Oliver assured Kim and Tommy who looked the most worried. A paper print out began to emerge from a console where Alpha had gone to work. The robot took it and walked it over to Billy handing it to him. Billy read through it quickly, his face breaking out in a grin.
"The scan indicates three strong teleportation signatures leaving the moon's surface just over an hour ago," Billy informed them.
"They're on their way back," Kira stated, expressing the relief everyone felt. Almost as soon as she said it red, yellow, and black light streaks descended into the center of the Command Center and materialized into the three missing rangers.
"You're back!" Kimberly exclaimed, joy resonating in her voice. All three appeared to be whole. There was no visible damage to their suits. All three powered down immediately, as Kimberly ran to and threw her arms around Aisha's neck.
"Were you successful?" Billy asked them. Rocky smirked and handed him both the pouch and the extra container he'd sent them off with.
"Ye of little faith," he laughed as the four children came rushing towards Billy trying to get a good look at what the rangers had brought back.
"Everything go ok?" Tommy asked them, though his eyes were following the pouch of moon dust.
"Piece of cake," Aisha told him. "I doubt if Zedd and Rita even knew we were there."
"Is it fine enough Billy?" Adam asked, indicating the consistency of the dust. Billy nodded in response, setting the pouch and container down on a console. He bent down to pick up the clock before opening the back panel and placing the pouch inside.
"You guys did perfectly. There's plenty of dust. We shouldn't have any problem returning everyone to normal now."
"Alright!" Connor and Trent both shouted, giving high fives to one another. Kira's face broke into a wide smile, and Tommy and Dr. Oliver both wore matching grins.
"Great," Kimberly said. "Let's get you all back to normal."
"Affirmative," Billy added in. "Just line up over there," he stated, indicating the space in front of the viewing globe. Connor stood at one end, with Trent between him and Kira. Dr. Oliver was beside his team, and the line finished with Tommy. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha all stood to Billy's left, just out of range of the clock, while Kimberly and Ethan stood on his right, partly between Billy and the regressed rangers. "Ready?"
"Do it," Kira laughed. Billy nodded and once again set the dial on the clock. He aimed the device at the dino thunder team and Tommy and pressed the button to activate it. Just as it had done the day before, light blazed out of the clock, engulfing the rangers in front of it as the Command Center's alarms blared. Billy, who was ready for the kick back this time, held the clock with two hands and was able to steady himself to prevent being knocked backwards.
The light shrunk in on itself, revealing four teenage rangers and one adult ranger, all who were examining their own bodies, still slightly stunned.
"Tommy!" Kimberly shouted, sprinting towards him. He caught her waist between his hands and lifted her, spinning her in a circle the moment she reached him. When he set her down, she gripped him tightly and buried her face in his shoulder.
"I'm me again!" Trent laughed, grabbing hold of Kira and hugging her tightly. She returned his hug with equal strength.
Dr. Oliver looked over his team, smiling, as Ethan came forward and grasped his hand in a handshake hug combination. "Welcome back," Ethan told him.
"Good to be back," he replied.
"To be completely clear," Connor stated, looking up from his hands. "Girls most certainly do not have cooties," he laughed, as he reached out to the side, grabbed hold of Aisha's hand and dragged her towards him. Before anyone could react, Connor dipped her, and planted a kiss on her lips.
Simultaneously, a few things occurred. Kimberly and Tommy both smiled at the red and yellow rangers, thinking the entire event was sweet. Billy and Ethan wore stunned expressions, while Kira and Trent looked worried. Dr. Oliver's face went wide with surprise, having absolutely no idea what had transpired at the dance the night Kimberly had been kidnapped. Although, based on the anger reflected in Rocky's eyes, he had a pretty good idea about why Rocky had lost control as a child and tried to beat the shit out of the other red ranger. It appeared that only two things were currently stopping him from trying again, and those were the fact that as a teenager he was expected to have a better grip on his emotions, and that Adam had his hand gripping his best friend's shoulder. At a glance, it seemed like Adam was just touching his friend, but if Dr. Oliver looked carefully, he could see that Adam's muscles were flexed, indicating that he was applying quite a bit of pressure to hold Rocky in place. Rocky's reaction didn't surprise Dr. Oliver in the least, but what did was that Aisha had not fought Connor off, and instead and returned his kiss with one of her own when he stood her up again. Both teens were grinning at each other, oblivious to what was going on around them.
"Um, you two do realize you're not from the same time, right?" Dr. Oliver asked the two of them, bringing them both back to the present. Connor and Aisha sprung apart, blushing slightly.
"It's not serious," Aisha laughed. "He's a good kisser."
Adam flexed his muscle again, preventing Rocky for moving towards Connor. He knew his best friend had had feelings for Aisha for a while, he was just, in Adam's opinion, too dumb to tell her so. It wasn't Connor's fault that Aisha was returning his affections. In fact, if anyone was to blame, it was Rocky for not asking her out. And attacking Connor again would not be the way to win any brownie points with Aisha when he did get the up the courage to tell her how he felt.
"Thanks," Connor laughed. "We know, Dr. O," he added in. "Just having some fun right now."
"Please keep said fun, PG, alright?" he instructed Connor, who nodded. Dr. Oliver looked from Connor to Aisha to Rocky and then sighed. He was really beginning to hate teenagers. He wanted to say something about what he knew right then and there, but Rocky hadn't expressed his feelings for the yellow ranger yet, and that was just not something he felt he had the right to do. However, he'd definitely be having a talk with Connor back at the cabin.
"What do you all say we do dinner out to celebrate?" Tommy interrupted. Kimberly was still nestled in his arms, his chin resting comfortably on top of her head. Going out in public would have the added advantage of making Dr. Oliver either leave, or become invisible for the remainder of the evening. Granted, he wasn't as angry with his older self as he had been a few hours before, now knowing a bit more of what had been going on, thanks to Kim. Still, he didn't exactly like the man he would become.
"Sounds good to me," Adam stated, glad for a change of topic. He still hadn't released Rocky. "How's food sound Rocky?" he asked his friend, pointedly. Rocky's body which had tensed up relaxed when Adam addressed him. He looked back at his friend, and sighed, clearly reading Adam's expression. He just nodded.
"I'm caught up enough on homework. How about Chinese? We haven't had that in a while."
"Sounds good to us," Ethan stated, his teammates nodding.
You've done well Rangers. Go and celebrate Zordon told them with a smile. All eleven nodded and teleported out.
The next morning Connor, Kira, and Trent sat at the dining room table eating pancakes that Kira had cooked simply because she was excited that she could once again reach the top of the stove with ease. The night before she'd met up with Dr. Oliver and made him swear not to every mention several simply embarrassing details of their time regressed. It hadn't taken much to get him to agree.
"Couldn't he have at least let us sleep in?" Connor grumbled, adding a massive amount of syrup to his stack of pancakes. It was barely seven o'clock. "It's not like we've got anything to do today," he added in. Dr. Oliver had informed them the night before that he and Ethan were going to be heading to the Command Center to begin work on the time travel device. The hope was to use parts of the clock that had caused the regression to open a time portal to the future. They were going to pair it with the memory device so that they functioned simultaneously.
"You weren't complaining when you woke me up with the sun for the last four days," Trent retorted.
"I was eight! Everyone knows teenagers need more sleep," Connor retorted. Trent smirked at him, and Kira rolled her eyes, despite the fact that she agreed. At present, it was just the three of them, something they'd gotten used to for varying reasons. Dr. Oliver was in his room getting ready, while Ethan was in the shower.
"You'd sleep all day if we let you," Kira told him.
"Speaking of all day," Trent stated. "What do you think we're doing today? I hope it's not katas again."
"Nope," Dr. Oliver told him, stepping out into the living room. His hair was spiked again, glasses on, and he was dressed in solid black. And he was grinning.
"Glad to be back Dr. O?" Kira laughed at him. Dr. Oliver nodded once, not denying it.
"So what is the plan for the day?" Trent asked him.
"Library," he stated, grinning at the chorus response of "Aww man" that came from the three newly returned teenagers. "Don't 'Aww man' me," he told them. "You four haven't been to school in two weeks."
"It's not like we'll miss anything," Connor informed him. "You said you'd set the clock for us to return the same day we left."
"You could still use some study time," Dr. Oliver told him. "Your grades could use a boost."
"But we didn't bring any of our homework," Kira argued. Dr. Oliver just raised her eyebrow at her. "Or we could just study for science class."
"Good idea," he told her with a smirk. "Connor," he stated, turning to the red clad teenager. "I need to talk to you for a second."
"Um… what'd I do?" Connor asked. "Dude, if it's about the tomato sauce, it was all Tommy's idea."
"Wait! Tomato sauce? What?" Dr. Oliver asked, trying to understand what Connor was saying. "You know what? I don't need to know. Just come with me," he stated, leading Connor into his room and shutting the door.
"What do you suppose that's about, if not the tomato sauce?" Trent whispered to Kira who shrugged in response, clearly as confused as he was. The two sat in silence for a moment. "So, um, Saturday morning," Trent suddenly started stammering. Kira looked up at him, pausing mid bite. "Did you mean it when you called me your boyfriend?"
Kira hesitated, putting her fork back down, and blushing a slight shade of pink. Of course he would have remembered that. "Uh, yeah," she stated, not sure how to answer him. "But if you prefer that we don't put labels-"
Trent cut her off. "No! I liked it. I'd been hoping you'd meant it," he told her with a smile, reaching over and covering her hand with his own. "I just didn't want to ask, while you know, we were little."
"You mean when you and Connor thought girls had cooties?"
"Hey," he laughed, "I never said that. It was all Connor."
"You were thinking it," she accused him, a playful smile on her face. Trent didn't argue. Instead he laughed and nodded. "I did mean it. I've thought about it for a while. Just wasn't sure you felt the same."
"I'm glad you told me," Trent told her, leaning in and kissing her lightly on the lips. It was a peck. Nothing like the kiss Connor had given Aisha the night before.
"Me too," she laughed, as the door to Dr. Oliver's room opened and Connor returned, looking very pale.
"What's up?" Trent asked him. Dr. Oliver still hadn't emerged, even as Connor sank back into his chair at the dining room table.
"I am going to die when we get home," Connor stated, his eyes full of terror. He didn't look at either of his teammates as he shoveled a few bites of his pancakes into his mouth, looking for all the world like he was consuming his last meal.