Author's Note: I hope everyone is keeping cool in this sweltering weather! Perhaps another part to the story can keep you inside and out of the heat! Hope you enjoy! As always, review, review, review! Praise is nice, constructive criticism is okay, but please NO FLAMES! Flames are mean and mean people suck… hehe! Okay, here's the next part!

June 21, 2006

2:30PM

Fort Meade, MD

The former Joes had gathered inside the living room of their friends, Dashiell and Alison Fairborne, AKA Flint and Lady Jaye and were having a very heated discussion pertaining to the whereabouts of their children and what they can and should do to bring them home safely. Hector and Courtney had only arrived fifteen minutes before, having to wait to leave their house after Hector had put gotten home from work. It was the last day of school for the sixth grade class he taught and with only one hour to the school day, he didn't think it fair to miss the last day of class.

They had been ushered into the two-story ranch home by Alison and upon entering the living room, saw several of their friends having a heated conversation about their children. Seated in a semi-circle in the center of the large living area in addition to Dashiell and Alison, were Conrad and Shana Hauser, Bill Hardy, Brad Armbruster, Carl Greer, MacArthur Ito, Marvin Hinton, David Kasnebogen, Albert Pine, and Blaine and Zarana Parker. It seemed as though they were all talking at once, each with their own idea of how to get their children home.

"We've been anticipating this day for 20 years," Conrad was saying. "Project seventeen- the operation in which we have to retrieve our children and bring them home safely. We have to try to remember every little detail that happened twenty years ago and let it play out as it played out then. Otherwise our entire future is going to change."

"And remember everything without getting our kids hurt," Hector cut in, from where he was standing in the door. He headed into the room with Courtney and took a seat on the floor, seeing all the chairs and couches were currently occupied. "I don't know about anyone else, but I want my little girl back in one piece."

"And get them back in one piece," Conrad told him.

"And if I remember right, and this is going back twenty years, but we- or they- or- well, you know what I mean- are supposed to arrive to save the kids sometime late tomorrow afternoon… which was the 22nd… right?" Shana asked, visibly trying to think about the date. "Yeah, it was the 22nd, and tomorrow is the 22nd…"

"The kids must be going nuts right now," Blaine said. "I seem to remember Hawk forbidding them to leave the building and I certainly know that Kaelin is not going to be happy having her daily routine thrown off so she can't take her usual morning run."

"And they've probably already found out me," Zarana said quietly. "I can only imagine the kids hate me now. I remember Kaelin and Cole both feeling like they hated me when they found out."

"They don't hate you," Blaine told her, rubbing her shoulders in an attempt to make her feel better. "Trust me, when they see how you try to protect them, they'll see how much you really love them."

"Beth is probably dancing around the halls by now," Courtney said.

"Abby's probably right next to her," Hector added.

"With Shannon beside her I'm sure," Shana told them. "She's a bit of a live wire herself."

"I wonder where she got that from?" Conrad said, shooting a sly grin towards his wife.

Shana responded by playfully sticking her tongue out at her husband.

"Did anyone think of just how we're supposed to get there?" Albert asked. "Finding a way to go back in time I mean. Is there like, some sort of time machine that one of you have that I don't know about?"

"I believe that Roadblock and I can help with that," Dashiell said, nodding in Marvin's direction and referring to him by his code name.

"You have something?" Carl asked with interest.

"A little something that we've had hidden away for a long time," Dashiell said with a grin. "You forget that we were able to retrieve the time machine twenty years ago." As though to prove his point, he went into the kitchen for a few moments and returned with a handful of little devices that strongly resembled ballpoint pens.

"You're proposing to get my little girl back with a BIC pen?" Hector asked sarcastically.

"These are what Cobra used to send our kids back in time," Dashiell told him, his voice laced with exasperation. "Duke sent Roadblock and I into the Cobra base to take both the central computer device that was programmed with the destination and the actual devices used to physically sent the kids back to 1986. Then we used them to send the kids and their parents back to the future. We kept the main computer device and the activation units for when we'd need them today."

"So how do those work exactly?" Brad asked.

Zarana decided to jump in and answer that question. "You have to program a destination into the central computer system. A signal is then sent to the… BIC pens as Shipwreck referred to them, which transport the desired person or persons to the destination in the central system." She took one of the transporting devices from Dashiell before continuing. "This device is activated by pushing down a small button on the top. There is a small hole in the front of it, which is pointed away from you when it's activated. This little hole actually emits a bright light, which engulfs the people you point it at and sends them to the programmed time and place."

"Well, we have a way to get there, but how are we supposed to get back?" Courtney asked.

"We'll have to find the computer on that side and set it to send us home- with our kids," Conrad said.

"Isn't that a little dangerous?" Carl asked. "We would have to take the kids with us."

"I'm not putting Abby in danger," Hector said firmly. "No."

"Well, not necessarily. We would just have to find out where the Cobra base is, steal the unit, and bring it back to headquarters so that we could get ourselves and the kids home," Dashiell said.

"And we have to do this without getting ourselves killed," Hector said sarcastically.

"I don't have to like it."

"Well, you'd better pray that this goes off the way it's planned because I personally don't plan to end up six feet under and leaving my poor little girl by herself," Hector told him.

"She's with all of us-well, our younger selves- and her friends. And she's sixteen now. I'm sure she can take care of herself," Alison threw in.

"Just because your daughter has been by herself for two years doesn't mean I'm willing to let that happen to my kid and I'm not willing to knowingly put Abby in a situation where she's all alone," Hector said angrily.

"Now wait just a second," Dashiell started but Courtney cut him off.

"Hector, can I talk to you for a second. Outside," Courtney said to him, emphasizing the word outside and tilting her head towards the door. Hector reluctantly followed her, shooting another angry stare towards the others in the room for even considering what they were.

Once they were outside, Courtney put her hand on her friends shoulder and said," Hector, what's wrong? What's really bothering you?" She knew him well enough to know that it wasn't just his daughter's safety that was concerning him.

He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his temples before speaking. "I just- I feel like I didn't do enough to stop them from taking her," he said sadly. "And Beth and Dave- they were with her. And I know that she can hold her own. She's really bright- it's just…" he paused as he tried to find the right word. He took another deep breath as he looked at his best friend. "Abby's all I got. She's my only kid and I'm raising her by myself- I'm angry enough that she's not here with me right now where I can protect her. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without her."

Courtney looked at her best friend, knowing exactly the emotions he was going through. "I know how you feel," she told him. "But you forget that you always have me to help you. I mean, you've done more than your fair share to look after Beth and David ever since we moved to New York and I'd like to think that I've included Abby into our lives- I'm pretty sure she thinks so. And I know that Beth and especially David see both of you as a part of our family- you know as a father figure since they don't have their dad around at all."

Hector smiled at her, nodding at how true her words were. His expression saddened again a moment later as he thought about the three kids. "I feel like it's my fault though. I mean, if I'd been home maybe- maybe I could have saved them or something."

"Don't be ridiculous," she scolded him. "There was nothing either of us could have done. Not only was this was this carefully organized and executed, it's been fated to happen for twenty years. We knew this day was coming and we can't change what's inevitable. It's out of our hands. What we can do is work together with everyone in that room-" she pointed towards the living room where their friends were sitting, "-and find a way to bring all of our kids home safely. Without killing each other," she added for emphasis.

"All right," he nodded.

"And hey, look on the bright side. In a weird ironic twist, you still are kind of looking after her," she said, grinning from ear to ear, knowing that his younger self was where Abby was.

Hector rolled his eyes at her. "That's what I'm worried about," he said with a laugh.

Courtney laughed at his comment. "Everything will be just fine," she assured him. She gave him a quick hug before gesturing back towards the living room. "Ready to rejoin everyone?"

He gestured his arms towards the living room. "Ladies first."

Two hours later, after coming up with a plan to retrieve their respective children, the former Joes had decided to go to dinner before leaving on their rescue mission. They had chosen to meet back at Dashiell and Alison's house at 8:00 the next morning and planned to take their trip back sometime in the afternoon, after they had fiddled with the central computer programming. They had learned that the actual computer was at Marvin's home in Columbia, about an hour away. He would go home and load the system into his large truck, and bring it back to Fort Meade the next morning, where Zarana and Mainframe would play with the computer system and set the correct time and place to retrieve their children. They figured that they could leave sometime in the afternoon, but it would all depend on how quickly they could get the computer system online and working. Everyone just hoped they weren't too late to rescue their children.

To be continued…

Author's note: So the parents have some sort of plan to retrieve their kids. It should be interesting to see how they have to face their younger selves… but you'll have to wait to see how that happens… I'm so evil!!!! Well, not really, but I promise, that confrontation will come soon enough! Keep on reading and reviewing!