"Finally…"
Claire pulled up outside her old estate, relieved that their long journey back to London was finally over. She looked to her left to see that her mother was fast asleep, and smiled. She turned around to see Emmy, Layton and Luke, all asleep, Emmy's head rested on the professor's chest and Luke's head rested on Emmy's shoulder. She saw the professor's arms wrapped around Emmy and sighed. He was clearly deeply in love with Emmy. She was happy to see that he managed to find happiness after her death, but either way, she was still going to lose her life… and judging by what Andrea had said last night, it was soon…
A car pulled up beside hers, and Claire looked in the window to see Bronev nod his head to her. She opened the door and got out of the car.
"She isn't here yet," he said, looking concerned. "The young Emmeline is with her. She'd better show up soon…"
"She will, she knows what'll happen otherwise," Claire assured him. "How is your younger self?"
"Giving us the silent treatment," Bronev replied. "Though that's normal; I know now for a fact that I'd do the same in such a situation."
Claire smiled as another car pulled up beside them. "Talk of the devil…"
Andrea hopped out of the car and faced the two. "Wake everyone up. Is the old bag home?" she asked, pointing to Celeste's house.
Claire's expression turned sour. "If you're referring to my mother, she'd be at school by now, as would Markus at this time."
"good." She turned back to the car and opened the door. Little Emmy yawned and squinted confusedly at her captor. Andrea grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and dragged her out of the vehicle.
"I'd rather you didn't manhandle my niece, thank you," Bronev growled.
"It makes no odds to me," Andrea snarled, pushing little Emmy towards them. She stumbled, losing her footing, and Claire and Bronev just caught her before she hit the ground. The three of them glared at her.
Andrea then turned to Layton's car and banged loudly on the window. "Wake up! We haven't got all week!"
There was much shifting and fidgeting at this, as Luke could be heard saying, "but we have a time machine! We have all the time we could possibly want," making Claire snort.
Markus and Leon emerged from their car, woken by the commotion outside.
"What on earth—" Markus began.
Andrea grabbed little Emmy again and dragged her towards Celeste's house. "We're doing this now. I don't care if you're ready or not."
The others quickly ran after her as she approached the house. Markus ran ahead with the key and unlocked the door. Andrea pushed past him and made for the stairs, making her way to Celeste's loft. Everyone else was in hot pursuit.
"Vill-you-get-ze-fuck-off—" Little Emmy snared through gritted teeth as Andrea gripped her hair tightly.
Andrea opened up the step ladder and ascended to the attic, little Emmy's braid still held tightly in her fist. Little Emmy cringed as she was dragged up with her.
"Miss McIntyre, really, that is quite enough!" the professor shouted, but Andrea paid him no heed.
Once everyone was crowded around the machine, Andrea let go of Little Emmy, throwing her to the floor, and turned to Markus. "Set the machine to send them to 15th May 2014, 3.30pm," she ordered.
"… But the machine doesn't work," Claire pointed out. "It never worked. Not once when my father and I tried to get it to even move through space did the arms even move an inch."
"The thing about Dad was that, even though he had good theories and ideas, he would never have made it as an electrician," Markus smiled. "He has the whole show connected up all wrong and there were breaks in the cable. But, now that we know exactly what the problem is, we can fix it up and send these two on to the right time in a jiffy."
"We'll have to work quickly, though," Claire said. "Mum always comes home for lunch at two."
As she said this, Markus had already opened up the back of the machine and, screwdriver and pliers in hand, had already set about re-wiring the machine. Claire beamed at him and rushed over to help. Luke went over and picked up a flashlight and together, the three of them poured over the machine.
Little Emmy yawned and sat on a nearby crate. Leon sat down beside her and wrapped his arms tightly around her, planting a kiss on her forehead. Emmy looked on at this and smiled. She looked over at her uncle, who was also watching the scene. She suddenly felt someone rest a hand on her shoulder.
"Why don't you sit down and get some rest, my dear?" the professor murmured gently. He took her hand and led her to a bean-bag. They sat together and Emmy rested her head on his shoulder.
"Hershel…"
"Hmm?"
"I've missed you." She took his hand and placed it on her lap.
The professor smiled and gently kissed her hair. "I've missed you too."
"I suppose she's succeeding in keeping us apart…"
"Only for the time being, my dear. I know things are so hectic, and we hardly get the chance to talk anymore, but everything will be alright again soon. I promise." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her tightly. "You know I love you." He kissed her hair again. She moved in closer to him and kissed his lips gently. They shared a gentle embrace for a moment before breaking apart.
Emmy took the professor's hand and stared longingly into his eyes. "I just want this to be over. I hate not being able to see you…" She wrapped her arms around him once more and kissed him on the cheek.
The professor held her tight against him and kissed her forehead. "I know, my darling. I know it's hard…" they kissed again. "But I promise you that everything will get better."
"It's just that… well…" her voice lowered to a faint whisper. "Ever since we arrived here... well… since we ran into Claire… you've been… a little… well… quiet. It felt like you were avoiding me… I just need to know that we're okay…"
"Emmy… I'm sorry, my dear…" the professor let go of her and trailed off. "The thing is that, since our arrival, my feelings have become a bit… how can I say this… jumbled. Confused, even. I'll admit that running into Claire threw me. It hit me, hard, and it stirred up all sorts of painful memories and old feelings…"
"I'm so sorry, Hershel…"
"No, Emmy, it's not your fault…"
"There's only one person to blame here, and the little minx isn't going to get away with it."
"But Emmy… the reason why I was a little off with you is because I didn't want to upset Claire. I knew that it was inevitable that Claire would discover her fate, since I first clapped eyes on her here. She was always very good at picking up on these kinds of things, and feelings and such, she gets that from Celeste, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't distress her. I didn't want to distress her even further by rubbing our loving relationship in her face. I didn't want to make it seem like I had just forgotten about her."
"I know… and I'm sorry…"
"You don't have to be sorry, sweetheart."
"I understand that you still love Claire, and that the strong feelings you have for her will never go away—"
"But that doesn't mean that I don't love you, Emmy. I love both of you."
"We're finished, Hershel," Claire called. "We need to send Emmy and Leon on to the future now. We haven't got long – Mum's other self will be back soon."
"Then we need to get moving." The professor brushed his hand against Emmy's arm as he got up. "Is everything ready?"
"The time destination is set and the arms are connected to the main power source," Markus nodded. "All we have to do is activate it and leave them to it."
"Right," the professor nodded. "There's only one thing left to do." He grabbed the memory eraser and turned to Leon.
He stepped back. "What is that…?"
"This is a memory eraser," the professor explained.
"Oh, well that's alright then," Leon said, gesturing for the professor to place it on his head.
The professor hesitated a moment and reached out to Leon with the helmet in his hands. The helmet nearly touched Leon's head when he slapped it out of the professor's hands. It fell to the floor with a clunk.
"OI!" Andrea roared. "You have no idea how long this took my father to build!"
"Of course it not bloody well alright!" Leon shouted. "First you kidnap me and my little girl at God knows what hour of the night, then you tell me that we have to travel to the future and then you try and wipe my memory! What is wrong with you?!"
While this was happening, Emmy picked up the memory eraser from the floor.
"Leon, please, all we're trying to do is prevent a paradox—"
"What is this, 'Back to the Future'?"
Emmy tapped Andrea on the shoulder. "Come and show me how this thing works…"
"Leon, please, if you'll just allow us to explain—"
"I know your game, you no good son of a— gah!" he yelped as Emmy placed the memory remover on his head from behind. "Get off!" But it was too late Emmy flicked the switch and after a few flashes of the blue lights on the helmet, he was unconscious.
"Emmy – I—" the professor turned to see Little Emmy also lying on the floor.
"I had to catch them both off guard," Emmy explained. "I knew that, once Uncle Leon had started, he would never stop."
"Er… nicely done, Emmeline," Bronev frowned.
"Now we can send them back," Markus smiled.
"Right," Andrea clasped her hands together. "You all have to leave."
Emmy smiled. "No."
"Sorry, Altava, but you have no choice in the matter. You see, if I don't go back in time and tell my younger self what to do, I would never have gotten into this scenario, and if that doesn't happen, we all disappear…"
"She's right," Claire nodded, glaring. "We have to let her go back with Little Emmy and Leon and complete the circle. We have to leave now, so you can get back quicker. Come on."
The group left the attic and regrouped in Celeste's kitchen. "So what now?" Luke asked. "Do we just go back to our own time?"
"I suppose so, yes," Markus agreed.
"But what about Claire?"
"Well… I'm not sure Luke…" Claire frowned.
"You're coming with us, Claire," the professor said.
Everyone turned and looked at him.
"We need you to figure out how my younger self got here from a time period when the time machine hadn't even been invented yet."
Claire frowned. "What?"
"Well the time machine hadn't been invented twenty-one years ago, had it?" Emmy asked.
"Your younger self?" Claire asked the professor, looking astounded. "But I thought Emmy and Leon were the only ones with younger selves."
"No… I also have a younger counterpart, but he is currently back in our time with flora."
Claire frowned. "Who's flora?"
The professor smiled. "That is a long story… but I promise we will explain everything to you when we go back to our time."
"Speaking of which, Andrea and the other two should have gone by now," Markus said. "We should be setting off."
"Excellent," the professor smiled. "Let's go."