At first I want to thank the canon verse for making physical time travel a possibility.
Then, I want to thank Aimofdestiny for the beta.
The bed Sarah woke up in was soft and warm. But that wasn't what drew a sigh from the girl; it was the weight of two warm bodies that were pressed against hers, on each of her sides and a third one down at her feet. She smiled and shifted a little, noticing that her right leg felt heavier than usual.
"Ah! She's waking up. Good morning." Sarah heard her mom's voice from her right side. Myka sounded relieved.
"Finally. I thought we would have to keep sitting in this rather small bed all day staring at her." Her other mother said in a smug tone of voice. Helena sounded particularly sarcastic.
"Four Bering-Wells' in a single bed clearly exceeds its capacity." Paul murmured from the end of the bed.
The girl opened her eyes, finding herself in a hospital bed. And she had been right: Myka was sitting to her right, Helena to her left and Paul at her feet. Looking around herself, Sarah noticed her right leg being in a big plaster cast.
"You're here." She whispered, looking at her parents. They both smiled fondly at her, and Helena pulled her into a tight hug immediately. It was funny seeing them now, after the time travel. Back then they'd been so young. And now the hair around Helena's temples showed only a few grey strands, the rest of it was still black as the night, but there were wrinkles around her eyes and and mouth. Myka's curls were almost completely grey and wearing glasses was now a daily task, but it didn't look bad on her. Well, they looked like Sarah's moms.
"Of course we're here, darling." HG smiled and cupped her chin. "Due to your wonderful work. Both your wonderful work." She added and looked at Paul, who weakly waved his hand.
"How grounded is he?" Sarah asked, looking at Myka.
"Extremely." Her momma replied, which caused Paul to groan. "Two months, to be specific." Myka nodded in agreement. "From now on."
"Mom!" Sarah's brother grunted. "I'm almost twenty."
"Which still leaves you a minor. Living with us." His younger mother replied.
"Momma! That's worse than that time I blew up the B&B!" He whined.
"Well, it is worse than that time you blew up the B&B." Helena agreed. "If you'd asked for my help when you built it, it would have gone better, wouldn't it. I knew exactly what you were building, Paul." She sighed. "But that didn't keep me from taking Parker's bait."
"But Claudia..." Paul ducked his head.
"Is your aunt and agrees." Myka looked seriously at him.
"Ferret, I'm gonna kill you." Paul's eyes darted to his sister.
"Wow, Paul." His sister tilted her head. "That was in pretty bad taste considering you almost did!"
"I agree." Helena grinned. "But well, Sarah, if you would still live with us, we would ground you as well."
"Good thing you have to stay at the hospital for a while." Myka shrugged but then looked at her daughter's leg, frowning. "If he wasn't already dead, I would... I really... God, I'm so angry!"
"Shhh, darling." HG reached out a hand to caress her wife's shoulder. "She's here with us and she's well."
"So, you know what happened?" Her daughter looked quickly at Myka and her.
"Well, Claudia installed a recording program to the time machine." Her mom shrugged. "That means, yes, after we listened to the both of you, we know everything. You were passed out for almost two days. It seems you needed a lot of sleep."
"Ugh."
"You both did well. Still, you're grounded." Myka looked at Paul.
"What happened after... I passed out?" Sarah asked interestedly.
Paul smiled at her. "Well, first I woke up to Julia slapping me like I'd done something wrong. Then Adelaide and Mrs. Lattimer rushed into the Warehouse, yelling and waving Teslas like they were going to war. Just to find out you already had. So, then, after that little disappointment, they called an ambulance for you. While Julia and I kept you company on your way to the hospital, they both found the Euphoria stone in the well and combined them with all the other stones and then they... yeah, freed everybody. They have been talking about how they saved everyone for days now, Sarah. And that's basically it before we had to start cleaning up after you."
"How is Julia?" His sister asked quickly, ignoring her parents' raised eyebrows.
"She's fine." Myka replied with a smug smile. "Claudia is talking to her right now."
"Good." Tiredly, Sarah closed her eyes again.
"Darling?" Helena carefully asked.
"Yes, momma?" The girl didn't look at her.
"In the past... when I listened to you... you sounded rather fond of her." The Victorian admitted.
"Well, I am rather fond of her, momma, she's my best friend." Sarah opened her eyes and looked at her. "Are you implying you two always thought she and I should become a couple as fast as possible because you heard me talk about love in 2014?"
"...maybe." Myka replied and avoided her gaze.
"Moms?!" Sarah squeaked.
"We really like her. We've been talking to her a lot. She's quite a catch, and now she knows about the Warehouse and..." Her other mother spoke quickly.
Sarah sighed deeply, rolling her eyes hard. "Of course she's quite a catch, momma. Her boyfriend would absolutely agree with that."
"She has a boyfriend?" HG raised her eyebrows in confusion. "Well, she never mentioned him when we talked."
"Momma!"
"I remember someone who used to have a boyfriend." Myka grinned, winking at Helena.
"Moms?" The girl said again, now with more emphasis. "I'm going to say this once and then we will never talk about this again. So, please, listen carefully. Julia is my best friend. Of course I am fond of her, because she's my best friend. And even if-" Sarah rolled her eyes in reaction to Helena's climbing single eyebrow "IF there was something between us that might be more than friendship, do you know whose business that would be?"
Myka bit her lip while Sarah glared at both of them. The girl took a deep breath. "Not yours!"
Her mothers looked at each other. "Those three years have changed her completely." Helena grinned.
"That's probably just the pain meds talking." Myka replied. They both rose from the bed.
"Don't walk away! You both know I'd follow you if I could! That bloody leg!" Sarah ranted.
"Yes, darling, it's okay." Helena grinned, heading for the door.
"You won't talk to her about this!" Her daughter added.
"Of course not!" Her mom nodded and she and her wife started laughing loudly. The girl leaned back against her pillow and rubbed her cheek. The one with the scar. She sighed and her face softened. Just before her parents could open the door, the girl looked at them again. "Moms?"
They both froze and turned around. "Yes?" Myka asked.
"Can we maybe... talk..." Sarah struggled for words. "Sometime soon, not right now... but... could we talk about the time travel incident?"
Her older mother smiled softly at her while nodding. "Which one?" She asked carefully.
Sarah blinked and then replied: "Both, actually."
Helena's face showed relief. "I'm glad you finally made this decision. Of course we can. As soon as you're ready."
Sarah nodded, lowering her gaze to the floor.
"Sarah?" HG raised her voice again.
Her daughter quickly looked back up. Her mother had sounded a little bit nervous, which confused the girl. She found Myka carefully placing a hand on her wife's shoulder.
"Yes?" Sarah blinked in confusion.
"Thank you." Helena whispered, her eyes were suddenly glistening. "For everything."
While Sarah pondered what she could have meant exactly, the couple slowly left the room.
After her parents had closed the door behind themselves to give Paul and Sarah some time to talk with each other, the boy nodded. "Wow, was that an attempt to start actual communication about issues between the three of you? I mean momma totally ruined it in the end by being cryptic, but..."
His sister rolled her eyes.
"I've been looking at the three of you struggling with that for about nineteen years now, Sarah. It's not like you don't communicate. But as soon it's about feelings or issues, it becomes awkward. You're so much alike." He murmured.
"And you are better at that?" She glared at him.
"Well, I've watched you a lot and figured out that communication is a rather important part of being a family. Not saying that you don't do it... it's just that you struggle with it." Her brother admitted. "It's like you're all waiting for the right time. But you can't spend forever waiting for the right moment, Sarah. Sometimes you have to talk about things as soon as you're able to do it."
"I'm talking to the boy who is keeping the teeny-tiny secret that he wants to become a Warehouse agent, because he's afraid his mother - who has been an agent for most of her lifetime - might think it would be dangerous." Sarah shook her head.
"Yeah, okay, that's an argument." He replied, and also rolled his eyes.
"I think they would be alright with it, if you would only tell them, Littlefoot." His sister grinned.
"Well, let's make a deal then, accident." Paul smiled carefully at her. "I'm going to tell them that I don't want to become an engineer even though I seem to be perfect for that and you'll talk to Julia."
"About what?" Sarah's eyes widened, her gaze dropping to the ground.
"The Warehouse?" He suggested after a brief pause. "I know you didn't want us to make her your one, but now she's got a lot of information and I think there are some things she should better hear from you than from us."
Sarah looked at her injured leg. "...okay."
"That's all?" He blinked for a few times in reaction. "No backtalk or doubts?"
She shrugged and then shook her head. "She's important."
Carefully surveying her with this slight grin he always had when reading her aura, he offered her a smile. "Okay."
"So... the leg." Sarah pursed her lips.
"Bone basically smashed. Julia and your physician talked about following surgery and physiotherapy." He placed his hand on the plaster. "Pete already wanted to draw some silly things on it, but we could keep him from doing that."
"So that means no baseball with him anymore?" She concluded.
"He's disappointed." Paul pursed his lips.
"Well." Sarah rubbed her forehead. "I'm a writer, Paul. I don't need a perfectly working leg for that."
Her brother shook his head. "Well, it's a pity you can't run. Pete and Claudia already suggested they want to start a 'Back to the Future' marathon with you."
She dropped herself back into her pillow. "Oh, no."
"Knock. Knock." Claudia said, knocking on the door of Sarah's hospital room and then entered slowly.
"Claudia!" The girl placed her journal on the nightstand and looked up at her.
"How are you?" The caretaker quickly approached the bed to hug her.
"Injured." Sarah replied, pointing at her leg.
"Ugh." Her aunt scrunched up her nose in disapproval while taking seat in the chair next to the writer's bed. "Julia told me about it. It's gonna be a long road to recovery."
"Well, the doctor said I will need two surgeries to ...I don't know. He mentioned the word 'titanium' a lot and I only understood half of what he was saying." Sarah waved her hand in disapproval but then looked directly at the caretaker. "You talked to Julia?"
"Yeah, me and some Regents." Claudia replied sheepishly.
"Regents?" Sarah's eyebrows furrowed. "Why suddenly Regents? I've never witnessed Regents wanting to talk to somebody's one, unless the person messed up." The younger woman blinked confusedly.
"Well... there is an interesting point about your best friend." Claudia scratched her forehead. "You know... since Vanessa retired all those years ago, we're kind of missing a physician who works for Warehouse 13 on a regular basis. None of those replacements we had stayed any longer than a few months. It's like in Harry Potter with the Defense Against The Dark Arts."
"Are you suggesting that the position is jinxed?" Sarah tilted her head in confusion.
"I'm always certain you'll get a Harry Potter reference." The caretaker smiled fondly. "Yeah, maybe. Well, since we now have a future physician who knows about us, why not ask if she'd maybe want to join the club in general?" Claudia shrugged.
"So you're implying she will do Dr. Calder's job in the future?" The writer tried.
"Well, she was excited when we offered to pay all her student loans. So... yes, if everything goes right, she's gonna do that." Claudia's eyebrows furrowed. "I hope you're okay with that. It means she doesn't have to be your one if you don't want to. Since Adelaide didn't allow you a chance to object to that, we though it might be a good idea."
"Hm..." Sarah carefully rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't know. I think I could agree on both. We'll see."
The caretaker grinned in reaction. "Good! Sounds like Warehouse 13: Next next generation."
Sarah laughed. "You're the most serious caretaker this facility will ever witness."
Claudia clutched her chest. "Come on!" She shouted after faking a heart attack. "You don't want to imply that you have to be an emotionless person for this job. Even Mrs. Frederic had a lot of humour, we just didn't get it back then."
"Yeah, some of her jokes took us a little longer." Sarah nodded profusely.
The older woman smiled, but this time sheepishly. "So, I've listened to all the data from the time machine. I've done a lot of research on Kurt Parker. And for some reason, I was able to get more information on him now. I tried hard to find out what happened after the incident in the past. But nothing really made sense to me. And I truly believe Kurt erased most of the data about him just to put it back about a few weeks ago so you would meet him in the past." The caretaker sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't get that any sooner, Ferret. That was just... disgusting. And I'm sorry it had to happen."
Claudia looked carefully at the time traveler. "If I had known what kind of monster we were creating, I would have never sent you back there." She took a deep breath. "If there would be any way to undo i-"
"No." Sarah interrupted her.
"Hm?" The caretaker's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"We won't 'undo' things anymore." The writer stated strictly. "Ever again. Things happen and we have to deal with the consequences. We make mistakes and we can't change anything about it and that's how this world works, Claudia. I've travelled through time twice, it's a rather compelling way of dealing with things, but it doesn't change anything."
"Oh." Claudia made, narrowing her eyes at her.
"Look" Sarah's eyes darted through the room, as if they were searching for words. "There was a watch... and I changed my mothers' past with it. I still struggle with that. But the truth is... it only led to this." The writer pointed at her leg. "It led to the fact that the universe needed to find another way for them. There's a theory about time paradoxes that says that the universe would never allow a real one. That it'll never allow me changing my parents' future so much that I won't exist. We have to accept that I have messed with time and that it wasn't okay. But in the end... it only led to this broken leg. And the scar on my face. And that's it."
The caretaker watched her carefully, her face betraying a hint of pride. "Well, Ferret, that's a very long reaction speech considering the fact that I only wanted to say that I'm sorry for letting you create your own disgusting stalker."
Sarah blinked for a few moments, confused. "Yeah... but it worked out well in the end. For me. Not for Kurt Parker." She sighed. "I killed him, Claudia."
The caretaker nodded, her eyebrows furrowed a little bit. She was watching Sarah carefully and the writer saw that there was something in the redhead's eyes. Something she had seen far too often in her life but never mentioned. Sometimes, Claudia looked at her as though she was afraid. "I killed him, Claudia." The younger woman sighed again. "Killing somebody. That's nothing I ever want to do again. I wasn't made for killing people."
"Made...?" Claudia seemed to be a little at a loss, but Sarah knew better.
"I know about what Mrs. Frederic said that day... before I was born. Do you really think my parents would raise me without mentioning it?" Sarah grinned a little, but there was bitterness in her eyes. "'The one who will know, and the one who will see herself.'" She quoted the former caretaker. "Claudia, please tell me I'm not the one who is made to see people die."
The caretaker looked utterly thunderstruck at her, her whole body frozen. "I still don't know what this... it meant that Mrs. Frederic said that day. I don't know, yet, Sarah. But I will do everything to finally understand and help you. You will not be the one to kill people or see them die." She inched closer. "Sarah, I saw you growing up and you are a good and wonderful person. So, there's nothing to be worried about."
The girl watched her carefully and then nodded. "Then, everything worked out well in the end. And it only caused a broken leg and a scar."
She could see Claudia struggling a litte with this sudden change of topic. Sarah wasn't sure what to do. Claudia had definitely talked to Leena about this. But as much as Mrs. Frederic loved to be the personified mystery, Leena enjoyed it in equal measure. And at this moment, the writer didn't want to care about that part of her life. She was done. Done time travelling, done having people talk in riddles to her. Done worrying. She only wanted to write a little and wait for her leg to be healed enough so she could get back to Univille.
After a short moment of silence, Claudia nodded slightly. "We all kept our scars." The caretaker rolled up her sleeve to show the time traveler the skin where Kurt had hit her with the knife. "I seem to finally have an explanation for that."
"Oh." Sarah replied and eyed the scar.
"But as it is, I doubt it's the end of this part of the story." Claudia smiled and rose from her chair.
"What are you implying?" The time traveler asked, horrified, when the redhead headed for the door.
"Well." The caretaker grinned enigmatically. "That there is one piece of the puzzle left. You know that there is one last thing to do, right? We both know that time works differently for the Warehouse." With that, Claudia left through the door.
"Ah, come on, Claudia! Sometimes you're exactly like Mrs. Frederic! Stop!" Sarah's eyes widened. "... Wait!... Mrs. Frederic!" Sarah jolted upright in bed to reach for her crutches. She limped through her hospital room to look into the hall. But it was completely empty.