The alarm rings and Tim looks towards the clock, noticing that as usual, it's 6:30 a.m.
He groans as he struggles to find the off switch, and upon hitting it, Tim rubs his face. Last night had been a long one, talking to the Police, filing the reports… and he couldn't fall asleep because he kept thinking about how he almost lost it last night.
Tim sits up and scratches the back of his head. He yawns, stretches a bit, then gets up to go to the bathroom to relieve himself. After doing so, Tim starts the water for the shower, waiting for it to get hot. So Tim walks back out, finds the clothes he wants to wear to work, leaves them outside the bathroom door, then jumping inside the shower. Tim turns around letting the hot water run down his back, which jolts him into full consciousness. Tim grabs the bar of soap, lathering up his hands, and then soaping himself down. Tim turns around again, letting the water spray at his chest, which felt good. Tim washed all of the soap off of him, quickly getting his hair wet, shampooing it, then conditioning it, before turning the water off and getting out of the shower.
Tim wipes the dew off of his bathroom mirror and he starts putting deodorant on, as well as brushing his teeth and hair. Tim opens the bathroom door to let some of the steam out, as well as to grab his clothes. First, Tim puts on the formal blue long-sleeve shirt. Tim buttons it up, while looking in the mirror, liking the way the shirt looked on him, then putting on a tie. Second, Tim put on a new pair of underwear, as well as a pair of khaki jeans with black socks and black shoes. Finally, Tim put on a navy blue business jacket. Looking to make sure everything was correct; Tim set out on his way to Gotham.
Creeping out of the bathroom door, Tim tiptoed over to kiss Jubilee's forehead, which caused her to wiggle a bit.
"Bye Tim… *yawn* Remember… I-I'm taking the kids in today…"
"I know, honey, I know… sleep well." Tim said, rubbing her head, then walking out of the main bedroom into the hall. Tim strolls out of the hall into the family room, making his way out of the door and towards his car.
Since the weather has been nice and there was no mention of rain anytime soon, Tim decided to put the top down. Once the top was down and he was on his way, Tim was elated with the decision. The radio was off, so the only sounds were the wind whipping past him, and the sound of his hair flying everywhere, which made Tim laugh, since driving with the top down made brushing his hair a pointless activity…
Tim then pulls into the Drake/Wayne parking lot, and hops out of his car. He doesn't bother to lock it, because if his car were stolen, that would be something completely against the rule of thumb for this world. Besides, the more and more Tim thought about it, last night was a fluke, something to probably make him look good in front of his family. But the thought left Tim as he skipped into work, greeting all those who crossed his path.
"Good morning, Mooney! How are you doing today?" Tim said to the ground floor officer.
"Pretty good today, Mister Drake! How are you?"
"I must say that I'm doing pretty well. Ready for the weekend? *Sees Officer Mooney shake his head up and down* Good, because so am I!" Tim said jokingly as he made his way to his elevator, punching the button for his floor. The Elevator reached his floor with a *Bing*, prompting Tim to exit when the doors opened. Tim walked down the long hall, reaching Jason's desk and the doors leading to his office.
"Hello, Mister Drake!"
"Hey Jason, what's on the agenda for today?"
"You've got another shareholder's meeting and a few files to look over."
"Great!" Tim says as he opens the door to his office, taking a seat in his leather chair. He reaches into his desk to look for his daytimer, which he finds, opens it up, and notices that the meeting is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.
"Well, that gives me about 5 or 6 hours, so I better start reviewing those files… Tim says as he looks on the left side of his desk to see a stack of them.
Tim starts pulling files, one at a time, going over them, either stamping them with approval or disdain, then moving on to the next file. There was about 30 to 40 files, and while Tim thought that it only took about an hour or so to do, when he looks at the clock he notices that it's now 11:56 a.m.
He smiles to himself as he gets up from his chair and walks over to the conference room doors, opening them up. After Tim does this, Jason pokes his head in to ask,
"Sir, the members are here now."
"Send them in." Tim says as he sees Bruce and all the shareholders enter.
"Welcome! Please, take some seats so that we may discuss some business…" Tim says as he gestures to the conference room chairs. They all take seats and Tim takes the head seat.
"So, what have you all got for me?" Tim says as the meeting gets underway.
Monetary concerns, legal issues, new products, and abandoned products are the name of the game for this meeting. All of the shareholders, Bruce included, are debating some of the things Tim has approved, disapproved and cut off during this week. Tim all the while just listens, hearing their concerns, explaining his reasoning, and sometimes getting into heated arguments on who's right. Tim must admit that he actually enjoying it a little, it certainly is nice to have people disagree with him instead of blindly follow him, as well as it gave a different surge than the one he got from crimefighting. The meeting ended with everyone coming to terms, although that could be debated among some of the shareholders, with everyone agreeing to meet again next Monday to discuss some more plans.
"I must say Tim, you've certainly got a way with them in the boardroom. They can all piss and moan outside of the office, but when they meet you inside, it's hard to dissuade your view and not be swept into it."
"So does that mean you've come to my view of thinking on the medical benefits issue?"
"Yes, yes, rub it in, why don't you? That's the other thing, your ruthless."
"I can be when nudged correctly. I learned that one from you." Tim said, halfway meaning it for this Bruce, but more for the Bruce of the 'real' world.
"What are you doing this weekend, Tim?"
"I'm not really sure, why do you ask?"
"I was wondering if you and your wife would like to go out to dinner with Kathy and I? I figured we haven't done so in a while, so it would be nice and fun."
"I'll think about it Bruce. If I can find a sitter for the kids, then probably yes."
"Great! I hope you can, it's been a while since Kathy has seen you and Jubilee." Bruce said as he shook Tim's hand and slapped him on the back, before leaving. Tim looks at his wrist, to see a watch attached and to see that the time was now 2:15.
"Hoo-boy, I need to book to pick up the girls!" Tim thought to himself as he rushed out the door.
"Jason, I'm done for the day, so do what you need to do and then you can go home!"
"Okay sir, I'll see you Monday then!"
"Yep, see you Monday and have a great weekend!" Tim said waving goodbye, making his way to the Elevator that had its doors open for him! Tim rushed inside and punched for the bottom floor. Tim raced down the floor only stopping a moment to wish Officer Mooney a good weekend, then continuing to his car.
Tim started it up and burned rubber to get out on the main road. As he was driving, Tim started thinking about perhaps foregoing the idea of heading home, rather take the girls out to lunch. Tim ponders this for a couple of miles, deciding that it's probably a good idea. Tim reaches the stoplight right beside the school, when he hears the school bell and sees the school kids exit. Tim impatiently taps his left foot for the turn light to come on, so when it does, he slams on the gas turning left and then turning right into the school. Tim parks his car by the side of the curb and rolls down his window to let some air get in from the sides. Tim waits a few minutes, getting worried about his girls as they're pretty much one of the first people to exit the building. But alas, his worries were for naught, as the girls appear from the front doors with excited looks on their faces. They see their father parked on their right, and they go to greet him.
"Hey girls, how was your day today?"
"Oh, it was pretty good! But I'm just happy it's the weekend now…" Steph says as she flings her book-bag into the back seat and sits in the back.
"Same here! No more school for two days…"
"Say girls, do you want to grab some lunch before heading home? I was thinking about Big Belly Burgers…"
"That sounds great, Dad!" Suzie says as she buckles herself into the front seat.
"Then let's head out!" Tim says as he exits the parking lot and heads towards the local shopping area of his suburb, where all the fast food restaurants reside.
Tim pulls into the drive-thru, ordering 2 regular cheeseburgers, one large cheeseburger and 3 large orders of fries and 2 medium cokes. Tim pulled up to the first window, gave the cashier a 10 to cover the costs, got the change back, then pulled up to the second window, getting the goods. Tim didn't bother checking the contents of the bags, as he knew they were all there. Tim began to drive home, with Suzie distributing the fries around to everyone.
Tim doesn't eat any of his, but the girls gulp them down and by the time Tim pulls into their driveway, the girl's are finished with their fries. Tim gets out of his car, smiling at both of his little girls, who see this and returned, with wide smiles of their own.
Tim with his fries and drink in hand enters the house with the girls carrying in their book-bags, with Suzie carrying in the Big Belly Burger bag. Tim puts his condiments on the table, with Suzie then emptying the bag and everyone grabbing the burger belonging to them.
The girl's jumped into their burgers, with Tim slowly eating his burger and fries.
"So how did work go for you, Dad?" Steph asked.
"Oh… same ole, same ole. What did you girl's learn today?"
"Well, I just learned some more math and English, but we were asked what we wanted to be when we grow up, and I had fun with that one!" Suzie said as Tim began to scratch his chin.
"So, what do you want to be when you grow up, Suzie?" and Suzie puts down her burger, so she won't be tempted to put more in her mouth, as she was hoping her daddy would ask her that precise question.
"I wanna be an artist! I'd love to draw comics for a living, especially Mighty Mouse, Supreme or Spider-Girl! To be able to draw heroic battles day in and day out… that would be perfect!"
"You could also learn how to draw it Rob Liefeld's style, I hear it's making a comeback!" and as Steph said this, Tim shuddered at the thought of his youngest daughter drawing an out of proportion Might Mouse.
"Well, that's a good profession to get into… howabout you, Steph?"
"Well, I'd actually would like to fashion designer… it may sound stupid, but I've got these ideas in my head that need to get out… besides, I think it would be fun…"
"It's not stupid honey, I think it suits you. Just don't draw your designs like Rob Liefeld would draw them…"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing…" Tim said as he continued to eat his lunch… and as he did so, the girl's continued in detail on what they'd like to do when they get older, the type of man they'd like to marry as well as having kids when they get older. Thankfully, the type of man they would like as a husband doesn't fit Tim's description.
"Whew, no Oedipal complexes there…" Tim thought as he dumped his trash into the trash compactor.
"Would you girl's like to watch a movie?" Tim asked as he started browsing through the plethora of movies at their disposal…
"Could we watch 'Charlie's Angels 3'?" Steph asked with an urgent tone. It wasn't quite the movie Tim had in mind, as he didn't really care for the first one, but what the hell…
"Okay, let me grab it…" Tim said as he grabbed the DVD of it and popped it into the DVD player.
Tim plopped himself down on the couch, with Steph sitting next to him on his left and Suzie on his right. Tim wrapped his arms around them and gave them a hug.
"Awww, Dad…" Steph said in a high pitched tone as the movie starts…
An 1 and a half later…
"Good golly miss molly, when is this movie going to end?!?" Tim thinks to himself, as the movie shows no signs of stopping. As he cringes as the next leg of the movie begins, Tim hears the door open and sees Jubilee enter the room.
"Hey babe! Watching 'Charlie's Angels' again?"
"Yup." Tim says as he gets up from the couch.
"How'd your day go?" Tim asks as Jubilee replies,
"As well as can be expected. It's been a long day though…"
"Well, if it'll make you feel any better, I'll give you a massage tonight."
"You better keep that promise, Tim. If you don't mind, I was thinking we could just have Burritos tonight. I'm hungry for Mexican…"
"Fine by me. Why don't you join me and girls to finish watching the movie after you get changed?"
"Okie-dokie, I'll do that. I'll try to not take a long time to change." She says with a wink, as she knows Tim wants someone to suffer through the movie with him…
After Jubilee finishes changing, she finishes watching the last 30 minutes of the movie with her family, which has the Angels disable a bomb carrying a lethal virus. The girls cheered for the victory, the parents cheered that the movie was now pretty much over.
"Now that this one is over, do you mind if we watch Spaceballs, I'm in the mood for a good laugh." Jubilee said, thinking that he's had enough of movies for right now, but she let him watch 'Holy Grail' last Saturday when he needed a laugh, so he felt it was necessary to let her watch 'Spaceballs'.
Exactly an hour and a half later…
"'Ludicrous Speed, GO!'" Jubilee says as she snorts, "Oh lord, I *love* that movie…"
"Watching that movie reminds me why Rick Moranis still has a career…" Tim says as Jubilee smiles at him.
"Well, it's a Mel Brookes movie, it has to be good!" Jubilee says as she starts getting the ingredients ready for burritos out.
"That could be debated…" Tim says as he helps to prepare dinner. Jubilee starts chopping up onions, tomatoes, getting out sour cream, and salsa, while Tim starts the stovetop, taking out a pound of hamburger, placing a pan on the spot warming up. Tim starts to break the meat up into tiny pieces while waiting for the stove to warm, and reaches into the cabinet to grab a box of burrito mix. After getting the meat all golden brown, Tim emptied the pan of grease, mixing in some water as well as the burrito mix. Then Jubilee put some chopped onion in and each took turns stirring the mix, letting it settle in. It wasn't much longer until everything was nice and thick, with the meat smelling wonderful.
Tim helped Jubilee set the plates out, while the girls carried the forks, spoons and condiments to the dinner table. Tim one by one grabbed the plates, put two tortillas on then handed said plate to Jubilee who topped both tortillas with beef.
"Okay, here are your plates!" Jubilee said, which drew both children to her side. She handed Steph a plate, then Suzie one… with them both bickering as they walked to the dinner table on which one got more.
"Here's your dinner Tim…" Jubilee says as Tim whisks it from her hands and gives her a peck on the cheek.
"Thanks Hon, it smells great." Tim said with a big smile on his face. Tim took his seat at the dinner table and Jubilee sat next to him. Tim piled some cheese, sour cream, and tomatoes on his burritos, taking the ends of the tortilla to wrap them in such a way that no meat would fall out when he picked it up.
Dinner passed with some small talk, mainly about the boardroom meeting Tim had today, how Jubilee helped some new kids adjust to living at Xavier's, but mostly time was spent scarfing down the burritos.
Suzie finished her plate first, Steph second, with Tim finishing up right afterwards.
"Hey, howabout we play some board games? We've got nothing better to do…" Tim says as Jubilee replies,
"I think that's a great idea, Tim! Grab 'Sorry' and 'Life', those two should be pretty fun." So Tim grabbed his plate, along with Steph and Suzie's, along with their utensils, dropping them off at the dishwasher and Tim headed into the Computer Room. Tim checks the closet of that room to see a boatload of assorted games. After a few minutes of shuffling through the game pile, Tim found the two games Jubilee wanted and brought them out to the table, where all 3 of his girl's were anticipating his return.
"Here we go, what do you want to play first?"
"Sorry, I want to play Sorry!" Suzie yelled as Tim put down the games, taking out the Sorry board and all the game pieces.
"I'll be red…" Tim says as before he can even assign pieces, everyone has picked the color of choice. Jubes is blue, Suzie is yellow and Steph is Green.
"Since we're all familiar with the game, I'll start and we'll go clockwise so it'll be me, Mom, Steph and then Suzie." Tim said as he drew the first card only to get a 'Sorry', which didn't do him any good being stuck at base. It would only continue to deteriorate, as Jubilee and Steph all got out first, with Suzie making a comeback win, with Tim in last.
"Okay, I just got off to a bad start, let's play again…" Tim says as he re-stacks the deck of cards, letting Suzie start since she won. This game went a little bit better, with Tim taking lead early on, with Steph in second, Suzie in third and Jubilee last. It seemingly came down to Tim and Jubilee for win, when Steph got lucky getting all the cards she needed to make a comeback victory.
"I win! I'm the top Drake now!" Steph gleefully said, which prompted Tim to change the game yet again.
"Okay, howabout we play Life?" Tim said, adding a little extra precaution, "But howabout we play teams, it'll be Mom and Dad against the squirts. Do you except the challenge?"
"You better believe it! Steph and I will beat the socks off of ya!" Suzie said in a mock competitive voice. They each took turns spinning and moving the cars, with it being surprisingly close between the parents and their children. In the end though, the parental units just barely beat out their own children, which left Tim a bit excited and exasperated.
"Well, I barely one that one, I better quit while I'm ahead…" Tim thought as he then said, "I'm done for the night, you can keep playing though."
"Nah, I think it's time for the girl's to go to bed, as I think they deserve something special tomorrow…"
"Oh, what, what?"
"Well, I heard from a viable source that a new shipment of Alan Moore's Supreme is coming on in… as well as the newest issue of Spider-Girl…" Jubilee tauntingly said, making both girl's eyes light up.
"But that's only if you girls go to bed here real soon…" and with that, both of the girls bolted for the bedroom to get into their pajama's.
"Shrewd Jubilee. Shrewd, but I like it."
"I guess Ivan Pavlov actually had a point about conditioned responses…" Jubilee said as she hugged Tim, "So what about your promise?"
"I'll keep it." Tim said as he kissed Jubilee on the lips. "Just let me make sure the kids fall to sleep first." Tim says as he walks to check in on the girls, to make sure they're in bed.
"Do you girls want to hear a bedtime comic?"
"Yeah, Daddy, could you read the Supremium Man story again?"
"Alright baby, I will…" Tim says as he drags out the comic. About 10 minutes pass, as Tim has gotten to the part where Billy Friday has merged with the Supremium Man, getting sucked into a timewarp back to the 1940's. Tim looks up from his comic and blesses Alan Moore once again.
"More people need to write like him, not only are his stories entertaining, but they put children to sleep! It's killing two birds with one stone." Tim thinks to himself as he closes the door and walks into his bedroom where Jubilee is lying face first on the bed in her pajamas.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, I need you to relax my muscles…" Jubilee purred as Tim vaulted onto the bed and straddled on top of Jubilee. Slowly, Tim began to rub Jubilee's back, massaging every inch of her many back muscles, also applying techniques he learned from the Rahul Llama to help deaden pain.
"I swear Tim, you should've gotten into the massage business, you do such a good job…"
"Are you really sure you'd want me to be sharing my techniques with other women and possibly men?" Tim said with a smirk.
"On second thought, forget that, I'm glad I've got you all to myself. Mmmm… that feels good…" Jubilee moans as Tim silently continues his work. After a few minutes, he gets off of her, to which she says,
"Thanks so much Tim, I feel *yawns* much better now…"
"I'm glad. I want you to feel perfect, just like do. Goodnight Jubilee…" Tim says as he clicks off the light-switch.
The clock slowly clicks from 11:59 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., officially making it Saturday. Tim has his eyes open, since he hasn't been able to sleep. He turns his head slightly to the left and notices that the clock has officially pronounced that it is indeed the time Tim thought it was.
Tim let out a breath as he slowly sat himself up, looking over at Jubilee, who was fast asleep. Tim rubs his right fingers through her hair, taking the hand, kissing it and then placing it on Jubilee's forehead. Tim puts his feet on the floor and cautiously exits the bed, tiptoeing his way to the door and out into the hall. Tim opens the door to Steph and Suzie's room, noticing that they both are asleep, with Steph sprawled out on her bed, with Suzie clinging tight to a homemade Supreme doll. Tim smiles and blows both of his daughters a kiss before closing the door.
Tim slowly and softly strolls his way through the house, resisting an urge to stop and rummage through his wedding day photo book again. Tim walks towards the front door, unlocks it, and walks outside.
Tim walks past the driveway, staring back at his house. Tim then looks at the row of houses on each side of his own house, admiring them, only to look at the sky. Tim looks at the twinkling sky, so beautiful… so perfect… and feels the wind nip at the skin not protected by his pajamas. It feels good, just like everything in this world… so Tim takes a deep breath, deciding to get it over with.
"Benny, I know you can hear me. I want to say thank you, this has been the… the best week of my life. While there were a few… strange… times, I've really enjoyed this world, and am privileged to know that you created it all for me. I really appreciate it, and I'll treasure that fact to my dying days." Tim says as he closes his eyes…
"But…" and as Tim says that, the wind stops and the stars stops twinkling.
"I can't stay here. Take me home, Benny." And Tim hoped that when he opened eyes up again, he would be home. All he found when he opened his eyes was Benny in front of him.
"Why?" Benny asks, with a shocked expression on his face.
"Please Benny, don't make me say it… just let me go home…"
"But why? This place was perfect, it suited all of your needs, and you said you loved it! Why are you giving it all up?" he asks, as Tim's face grows saddened by the fact he must give his reason.
"Did you really think I wouldn't have noticed?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean. I noticed it from Saturday to today. Or let me put it another way, you're not really a god are you?"
"What, what are you implying?"
"Just exactly what you think I am. That you're not really a God, but rather an alien with superior mental powers. That this whole world doesn't truly exist like you boasted it was, but rather it's in my mind. That my wife, my kids, my friends and co-workers don't really exist." Tim said with a stern look on his face, as he noticed Benny's face droop and his eyes dart away from Tim.
"Y-you're right. I'm not a God… at least in the way you think of God. I was being truthful about visiting planets and taking forms… I use my mental powers to link with the natives of the planet to learn more about them, and after I saw you get injured trying to help me, I used them to create this world for you. I never figured you'd be able to tell the difference…"
"It was pretty simple. Humans have various stages of sleep… the deepest being REM sleep. Right now I'm in REM sleep, with this being a dream world you constructed. How I noticed was when I fell asleep in this world, because I would hear voices… specifically Bruce and Alfred. This goes into the fact that since falling asleep in this 'dream-world', I actually went back into lower stages of sleep, where I was able to 'hear' and 'interpret' what they said, since their voices would be blocked out when I would 'wake up' or go back to REM sleep. The other deciding factor was the music. I know for a fact that people can 'write' stuff into their dreams, especially music. That's why I always use the ringing function for my alarm, and not music, because if I was in the middle of a dream and music came on, it would just be added to my dream instead of jolting me awake. That and the fact that most of the music in this 'Perfect World' were from CD's that I love and that I *KNOW* Bruce has at the mansion."
"How can you be so sure?" Benny said, hoping to dissuade this notion from Tim's mind.
"One, I know Alfred would play me music in the hopes of making me comfortable and in the hopes that a song might wake me up from this induced coma you've put me under. Secondly, all of the songs played are from CD's I know of, or when there was no music blatantly playing; one would be playing softly in the background. While most of my suspicions were confirmed Wednesday, this particular one was driven home Thursday. First, I listened to the Millennium 60's Rock Party in the shower. That's a CD I have listened to in the past, and I noticed that it ended with the second song, 'Do Wah Diddy'. A little time passed and when I got into my car, it played 'Pretty Woman' which is on that disk too, then proceeded to play the songs that came after that one on the disk. Not to mention that the time it took me to talk to Jubilee and then get to my car was about the length of 'Mony Mony' which was the song after 'Do Wah Diddy' and before 'Pretty Woman'. And on the way home from work, it played the exact tracks from 'Spud Mackenzie's Party Faves' one after the other." And as Tim said this, Benny cursed underneath his breath. He never should've let the music get through…
"But, but why did you seem so happy today?"
"Because I didn't want to arise suspicions. Unlike my first day, I wanted my last day to be enjoyable, and it was. I just didn't want to let anyone know that I wouldn't be staying past the weekend." Tim says as Benny replies with,
"Please Tim, reconsider! This place has so much that it can offer…"
"I'm sorry Benny, but I have to... I need to go back home. I can't stay in this artificial world."
"Don't! Please, don't go! Don't throw this all away just because it's not what you consider 'real'!"
"I can't stay Benny!"
"But what is reality, Tim? It's merely electrical impulses that get interpreted by your brain! As far as you're concerned, this IS reality! This IS real! Don't give it up on a whim!"
"Damn it, don't make this any harder than it is!!! I want to stay here but I can't!"
"Why, because this is false and 'your world' is real? How do you know that? How do you know that the 'imperfect' world you're returning to is real! For all you know, it could be just another reality foisted upon you by beings higher than yourself! Don't give up a perfect world if you can't even be sure if the world your returning to is even real!"
"You just don't get it, do you? It's not that this world is real or it's false, it's because *I'm* the only one experiencing it! I can't stay in this world, where I have a wife, kids, and everyone I know is happy, because I know that those same people are in the 'real' world, living their imperfect lives! I can't stay when I know Bruce is still mourning his parents every day, when I know Kon-El is still mourning Tana Moon and dreaming of being Superman, when I know my Mother is dead and my Dad is married to another woman… worried where his son is at. *Softly says* Where my children don't exist and where… where Jubilee is still alone." Tim says as he closes his eyes and a tear escapes his left eye.
"It's just not fair, Benny. I can't live happily when all the people I care about are still sad, still lonely, and still imperfect. That's why I have to go back." Tim says as Benny looks at him, finally getting Tim's point. Benny casts a look at Tim's house, where Jubilee wearily opens her eyes to notice Tim is missing.
"Tim?" Jubilee says as she scours the room for him, noticing that their bedroom door is open.
"I'm sorry to see that my attempt to create a reward for you didn't work. I wish I could've made it so that you would've stayed..."
"It's okay. I appreciate at least being able to spend some time here… speaking of which, could you do me a favor?"
"What?" Benny asks as Jubilee searches the house for Tim, making her way to the front windows. She pulls back the blinds to see Tim standing in the street talking to Benny.
"Since you were able to read my mind to find out about Jubilee, mentioning repressed memories, could you make it so that I could remember her, always? I don't want to forget about her ever again."
"I could, but doing so would make you remember this place… do you really want that?"
"Yes." Tim says as Benny breathes in and nods. Benny then says,
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yes. Pleasure meeting you, Benny." Tim said, extending his hand.
"The pleasure was all mine Tim, all mine…" Benny said, as he shook Tim's hand and then disappeared. When Jubilee saw this, she was shocked. She rushed to the door immediately.
Tim stood there, wondering what was going to happen. Was he simply going to disappear or what? That's when he looked to the left of him, to notice that the end of the street and the houses were starting to disappear. Jubilee opened the door to see this also. Having never seen anything like this in her life, she was terrified.
"Tim!" she screamed as she ran up to him, to drag him back inside the house.
"Jubilee?" Tim said, shocked to see her here. Tim was shocked to see her here saying, "Jubilee, get back inside, I didn't want you to see this!" but Jubilee ignores his words, hugging him.
"What's going on?!?" She screamed at him, noticing the pale look on Tim's face. No matter what Tim tried to say, the words got lodged in his throat. The whiteness has expanded to them now, as Tim's house was disappearing and now Jubilee.
"Oh God, help me!" Jubilee said as she grabbed his cheeks only to have the sensation of her flesh upon his fade, as her hands disappeared. Tim was filled with terror, as there was no way to comfort his ima… his wife, only able to watch her disappear.
"TIM!!!" Jubilee finally screamed as she faded away into nothingness, along with his 'perfect world'. The whiteness turned black, with the darkness eating at his soul. With his perfect world and wife gone, Tim began to scream as he opened his eyes again to find himself lying on a bed, with an IV in his arm. Tim sat up, looking around to see Bruce pacing around the room and Alfred sitting beside him.
"Master Bruce, he's awake!" Alfred yelled with jubilation, as Bruce snapped his head towards Tim's direction to see his partner sitting up. Bruce let out a sigh of relief, as he and Alfred smiled at Tim.
Tim looked at the both of them realizing that he was now home. At first he smiled, until he looked at Bruce again. Even though Tim saw Bruce smiling, he knew that Bruce would soon drop the smile, going back to his usual mood that he's had memorized since his parents were murdered. This made Tim remember the Bruce he met in the Perfect World, as well as all of his friends and family that existed there. He gave it all up; he gave up that beautiful perfect world for this, this imperfect world, for these imperfect people. And now, he had started to doubt if this was the right decision after all. The knowledge of that world, and the world he was now back into, prompted Tim to start crying.
"Tim? Tim, is something the matter?" Bruce asks as Tim replies,
"Leave me alone."
"What? Master Timothy, you've just come out of a coma, I think…"
"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!" Tim screams at the top of his lungs, as Bruce beckons Alfred to leave with him. As they exit the room, Tim is now sobbing, with both hands covering his eyes, to stop the tears and visions of this imperfect world.
An hour passes as Tim stands on a canopy, looking out at the setting sun. Alfred walks out to check on him, since he has acted rather strangely since he woke up from the coma.
"Master Timothy, are you feeling better?"
"I am now, Alfred."
"Well sir, I am preparing dinner, so I wanted to know if you wanted some."
"I would, thanks. Alfred… could you do me a favor?"
"What's that, Master Tim?"
"Do you know of a recipe called Beef and Broccoli?"
"Why yes Sir, it's an exquisite Chinese dish."
"Could you please make it for me?"
"Make it for you? But Master Tim, it takes a while and I am already preparing…"
"Please. I'll wait for however long it takes." Tim said with a pleading face. Realizing that Tim has been through a rough period, Alfred nods his head and says,
"Yes Master Tim, I'll make it for you."
"Thanks Alfred, I appreciate it." Tim says as Alfred prepares for at least 3 hours of extra cooking time…
Tim merely gazes out over the Cliffside of Wayne Manor, admiring the view, the air and the water splashing on the beach below. He then looks at the sun, thinking of Jubilee.
"If only that world were real… then I'd still be by your side…" Tim thinks as he reaches his hand out towards the sun, seeing her face inside of it, wanting to stroke her hair.
"At least I remember you now, and I'll never forget the feelings inside of me, even though you probably don't even remember me wherever you're at." Tim thinks to himself as he turns around to enter the manor again.
"But I hope one day we can meet again, so that maybe one day I'll be able to hold Steph and Suzie for real…" Tim says as he walks back inside, to prepare for living the rest of his life in this crazy world of ours…
The End
Writer's Block
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I would just like to thank EVERYONE who took the time to read this fiction. I sincerely hope that you enjoyed it, as I would hate to see your time wasted reading something unsatisfactory, and because since I don't normally write Tim, I'm unsure whether or not I'm doing a decent job of portraying him as he usually appears in the comics(I used to read his book a lot when it first started, but soon my interest dropped, so I don't know all of his history as well as say, Superboy's history). Whether or not though, I heavily appreciate the time you've taken to read it, especially since there are better writer's out there. I would also like to thank the Talking Heads and their song "Same As It Ever Was" for inspiring this fan-fiction, as well as the trailers for "The Truman Show" and "The Family Man" which both had that song as wellJ
Once again, thank you!
Ryan (Kator) Brandt