Author's Note: Here's a short filler to move the story along to the final chapter, this story will be completed (After years, lol). In this chapter I 'attempt' to make sense of time travel. I am not an expert in this but I hope I made it seem plausible at least and it doesn't give anyone a headache. But try not to think too hard about it, it's just fanfiction. I hope you enjoy the read. Thank you
Sometime Later
Derek had called upon the two most highly regarded experts within the Legacy who knew the most about the theories of time travel to help on this case. He had had them flown to the San Francisco house and they had spent the last hour shut away in his office sharing their ideas. All the while Nick had paced outside the closed office door until he lost all patience.
"So, have you come up with anything yet?" Nick asked as he entered Derek's office without the usual knock, which made Derek scowl disapprovingly at him. As the other two men seated in the office looked back in surprise.
"Nick, please do come in," Derek spoke out sarcastically. "You remember Dr. Zimmerman and Dr. Schwartz," He waved his hand at the two men who nodded a greeting to the younger man. "They were just updating me on their progress in their examination of the watch."
"So, how soon can I go back into the past and save Alex?" Nick anxiously questioned as he stood near the door with his arms folded across his chest.
"You cannot," It was Dr. Schwartz who spoke out first. "It simply is not possible."
"Clearly, it is possible," Nick replied as he dropped his arms and stepped further into the room. "I know because I traveled to the past using that watch," He added as he pointed at the pocket watch that sat gleaming atop Derek's desk.
"The question is not whether you can travel back in time, Mr. Boyle. Dr. Zimmerman and I both have spent our careers theorizing that time travel is possible," Dr. Schwartz further explained. "But you cannot change the past. Miss Moreau is dead. I actually examine her myself and I can assure you, she is quite dead," Nick swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat at that unnecessary reminder, while he tossed the older, balding man an icy glare. "You can't travel back in time, or make any changes that would affect this future. I will try to explain it in simple terms. Say you travel back in time hours ago, you save Miss Moreau's life, would you then destroy the watch to ensure it could never be used again?"
"That's the plan," Nick said in agreement.
"But if you destroy the watch, the time machine as it were, how would you then be able to travel back in time to save your friend?" Dr. Schwartz questioned and Nick scowled up but not in confusion, but because the question made sense. "And if you cannot use the watch to travel back in time, then you cannot actually go back and destroy it. So, it's not actually destroyed and you can go back in time and destroy it. Do you see? This Mr. Boyle is what we call a paradox. The watch is destroyed if and only if it is not destroyed. It can't be both destroyed and not destroyed at the same time. The laws of physics just will not allow you to change anything in the past," These words saddened Derek who had held out hope that it was possible to bring Alex back, and they crushed Nick.
"Well, not in 'this' past," Dr. Zimmerman chimed in, and both Derek and Nick lifted hope-filled eyes to the younger doctor, who looked to be the same age as Nick. "But it is my belief that you can travel back in time and you can save your friend, and in doing so, you wouldn't actually change the past of this timeline. Instead, you would create a parallel timeline in a parallel world where Alex Moreau never died at the hands of Jack The Ripper. And in that new parallel time and world, you could and you should destroy the watch because it would have no effect on this timeline whatsoever."
"In this theory of parallel timelines and worlds, what happens to Nick?" Derek asked.
"Assuming he accomplishes the task, he travels back to the point before it happens, if he makes 'any' changes he would then be in a different timeline, and he would no longer exist in this one. And you would have lost two friends, Mr. Rayne instead of one."
"And what about what happened to the Ripper could that also happen to Nick, could he phase in and out? The Ripper did it for nearly an hour before he was corporeal again."
"I don't think so," Dr. Schwartz spoke again. "From the way you explained it, Mr. Boyle, you piggybacked along with the Ripper to the past. The watch very likely is not designed to allow more than one traveler. Then you took the watch away from the main traveler before the transition between the times fully ended, and that probably created a disruption in time and space that affected only Jack, he phased in and out, between the past and the present, for a short time because he no longer held possession of the watch. So, if you don't take anyone else with you into the past, and you keep a tight hold on the watch until you've completed the transition into the past, you should be fine. This is just a hypothesis mind you, but I think it's a sound one."
"And I completely agree with it," Dr. Zimmerman stated and Dr. Schwartz sent a curt nod of gratitude.
"All right, you're giving me a headache. Just tell me, do you know how to work the watch?" Nick replied eager to go on this mission. His question made Derek look at him in concern.
"It is pretty straightforward," Dr. Schwartz said. "It has dials that allow you to set the specific date and time you want."
"Nick, I don't know if this is such a good idea," Derek spoke out to him but before he could utter any further thoughts about it Nick cut him off.
"I love her, Derek," Nick confessed simply.
"As we all did, just as we all love you," Derek countered and Nick shook his head as he locked his glossy bloodshot eyes to his friend and mentor as he spoke again.
"No, I'm in love with her Derek, I have been for a while now and I never told her because I was too scared and I thought I had all the time in the world. I figured I could work up the courage to tell her at a later date. Now, I will never get that chance, at least not in this world. And I don't want to live in a world without her in it, Derek. I can't be in this world knowing that I can save her and be with her in another world. And I wouldn't care if that new parallel turned out to be completely different from this one."
"Oh, it would be exactly the same as this one," Dr. Zimmerman spoke out again. "Everything that has happened in this world would have happened exactly the same in that parallel world until you change something, anything from the way it happened before. In fact, if you popped into the past and you changed nothing at all, in theory, you could pop right back to this present time with nothing changed. Or you could just stay there and let it all play out exactly as it did before until time catches up bringing you to this exact moment. But if you go back and change anything even a single word from how you said it before, you would have then created and be existing in a parallel timeline, and anything could happen from that point on. Also, if you were to travel to the future that would instantly create a new parallel world, with the only thing certain being what had occurred in this world up to the point from when you left. But from that point to whatever future point in time you set, anything could have happened and you would not know what until you researched it. And Mr. Boyle it is important for you to understand that Miss. Moreau could still be murdered by the Ripper, just in a different way, place, or time."
"I'll still have the watch with me in the parallel world, right?" Nick inquired.
"Correct, this watch from this timeline and this world, would remain with you in the new timeline," Dr. Zimmerman confirmed.
"Then I would just use this watch to go back in 'that' new parallel world's past and try to save her again if I have to," Nick declared. "And I'll do it however many times I need to, in order to save her."
"And what might that do to this world or however many parallel worlds he could potentially create?" Derek questioned.
"Nothing, because one parallel timeline would not be able to affect another," Dr. Zimmerman answered.
"So, even if I were to destroy the watch the Ripper in that parallel world has, it would not destroy this watch," Nick probed further as he pointed at the said watch on Derek's desk.
"That's right," Dr. Zimmerman affirmed. "Both watches would separately exist in that parallel world and destroying one would not destroy the other."
"Will you at least say goodbye to Rachel and Phillip?" Derek directed to his young friend. He fully understood that he would not be able to talk Nick out of going on his mission to save Alex.
"Yeah, they deserve to know why I have to do this, and they should hear it from me," Nick said with a nod.
