Disclaimer: Please see Chapter 1 for the usual statements.

Author's note: This chapter contains comments from a character's diary. For those of you still reading this story, I hope you'll enjoy this installment.

Time to Consider
Chapter 35

By Callisto

Kowaris Cannery—Present
Anchorage, AK

October:

'Two months have passed. It would be a good thing to report that the return of the temporal fugitives has gone smoothly. That is far from the truth. Soon after they were settled in, a devastating argument drove the couple apart like a wedge in the trunk of a tree. It was obvious to me from the beginning that they were lovers, his family found this surprising. It's strange because the girl is very beautiful. I should digress here for a moment and make a note of her appearance. As I've said, she is very beautiful and still a teenager at 18. This is remarkable because according to Ethan she was nearing her 40th birthday when she went through the event horizon. Her height is just under 5'8 and by the looks of her if she weighs over 100lbs I would be surprised. In her thinness there is a grace and a finely tuned musculature. I know this from watching her as she exercised in an unused portion of the cannery. Her hair is long—beyond waist length, dark and thick. To complement her hair, her skin is very fair but she often goes out into the sun which tans her very appealingly. It's her eyes that are the most arresting. They are a rather innocuous gray but piercing and very changeable. That said she is still very different and more difficult than her voice over the radio suggested. She seems to hear the 'voices' that her brother Ethan hears. Like Ethan, she acts on their messages. For example, a couple days ago, she asked me to give her access to the Internet. When I complied, I gave her some privacy but my curiosity about her is relentless. (From purely a scientific point of view!) A couple hours later when she was done, I returned and checked out what my spy program was able to learn from her surfing. She looked at several sites but none of them the typical shopping sites I would've thought a girl like her would visit. While I was in the middle of my prying, she silently returned. I was quick enough not to be caught red-handed when she approached again.

"Mind if I go back on-line? There are a few things I want to purchase," she said with a curious look in her eye. Everyday, she seems more ethereal, like when she looks at me it's as though she can see my thoughts. Apparently, it is when she looks this way that those voices are speaking to her. She proved my suspicions by adding, "You might as well stay and look over my shoulder. That way you'll get a good view of what I'm doing instead of straining your eyes and giving yourself whiplash to see if it's me walking up behind you."

I watched as she ordered all types of un-ladylike items. Knives, rope, dark clothing and a few curious, wicked little discs she called 'shiriken'. Often she referred to a credit card to make her purchases. I noticed in the ordering information she used her brother's alias. Before she was finished, I had to satisfy my curiosity. "Why do you need these?" I asked.

"That's my business, Harry Potter," she answered brusquely. She damn well knows my name is Norwood but I think she calls me this name on purpose to irritate me. It is very effective.

She slides out of my chair and then gives me the coldest smile a pretty girl has ever given me. The angelic girl who first came to this cannery is a great deal different than the woman who is looking at me now—different but the same.

"If you refuse, then I will tell your brother what I've seen," I offer as a type of threat. It's not an empty threat because I've seen Ethan fuss at her. He is truly a brave man for he easily ignores her angry glares, often getting her to capitulate. He is the only one she will allow to talk with her—besides me.

I watch as she stops dead in her tracks and slowly pivots on her left foot. Once again she is giving me a stare that spells death, but I copy Ethan and hold my ground. Her gray eyes impale my spirit and like a soft breeze that ethereal look slips into her face.

Her tone and accent were flawless as she switched languages, from English to Portuguese. Unfortunately, I once told her I was thoroughly fluent in that tongue as well. "I'm planning on returning to the Centre to get my nephew. I doubt they will be very cooperative, so I'm getting prepared. And, if you tell my brother or anyone else what I've just told you, I will…." What she threatened, I am ashamed to say made by throat tighten. I can not bring myself to write it here. Then in a bizarre move she assured me of her threat by stepping up very close to me and staring into my face. Her breath was pleasantly sweet as she looked up into my eyes. Without warning she leaned forward and kissed my mouth; softly and sweetly, until she bit my lip hard. The vixen had excited me very much and it would've been easy to misunderstand her intentions but, as usual, her cruelty had the purpose of intimidation. Damn but it worked! Now there are times when I truly wish that I had lied and left them in the other timeframe.

With her still very close, the warmth of her body radiating onto my chest, I ask another question. "Isn't that very dangerous? Is this something that you've discussed with Jarod?" That was a huge mistake.

Quickly she backs up and gives me a scalded look—both hurt and angry. "I don't need his permission for anything. Genius is too busy with his formulas and whatever to care about me. He doesn't want me" She whispered the last sentence with the voice of another—the young girl who first came here.

I watch her struggle fruitlessly against the effects of the merge. The young girl whose life the ever-present woman took over has been making herself known more and more. The girl wins as she looks at me with apprehensive eyes and then quickly looks away.

Because of the girl or maybe it was boldness, I do a dangerous thing and say to her, "Jarod has a theory about the merge and what is happening to both of you. It's an interesting theory that you should know about. Even with what is going on, his brilliance seems boundless."

"I'm sure the lab-rat was happy to hear that one," the girl responds flatly. I look up into her eyes and see the woman has returned but there are still vestiges of the girl in her manner.

"As brilliant as he is, I believe Jarod is failing to see all the ramifications. You see I've been watching you very closely." At her thoughtful stare I added, "Your beauty only makes it enjoyable. The problem is the merge itself. Just now you were struggling with it; one temporal personality slowly tearing away from the other, painfully by the looks of it. I think there is a type of bridge that completes the merge. Don't ask me how it works, because I don't know."

She was about to interrupt but I hold my hand up and continue. "Let me say this because it will affect you getting to your nephew. As the bridge or connection begins to deteriorate, you will slowly begin to lose cohesion. An internal cohesion that time itself created. Without this, I am afraid you will go mad. I apologize; there is no easy way to say this."

She stares hard at me. For a moment I thought she would laugh in my face, instead she remains still and quiet. I could see in her face that she was listening to something else—probably those strange voices. Her eyes shifted from an engrossed inner focus back to me.

"How long do I have before it happens?" she asked in a hushed voice.

"I'm not sure but I would say not too long. Picking fights with men twice your age and strength won't help matters either," I whisper back.

"How long?" she practically shouts impatiently.

"This is pure conjecture but maybe a month, not much longer than that. Ever since you've been back, the signs of the inter-temporal rift have become more pronounced."

"You're right. The –er, well things have become more than usual. It's weird but it feels natural. Why is that? And why doesn't Jarod show any signs of this rift-madness? Did it have anything to do with the age inhibitor we took?"

The questions came in rapid-fire succession, each equally insistent as the next. Fortunately, I had much the same questions on my mind which prompted my vigilance. Therefore, I was ready with answers for her.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean by "more" but anyway, Jarod is showing signs—though in his case it seems to manifest in him a little differently than it is in you. As for the age inhibitor, it merely reminds us that you have changed, nothing more."

"How can you be so sure?"

"The frog tells me this. You said when you appeared in the variant reality that the frog was intact and acting normally. No jitters, spasms or anything out of the ordinary. Also when you went through the first time, you experienced nothing more strange than feeling the first effects of the merge by having incongruous memories. The compound I injected into the frog was specially formulated for temporal travel. Jarod didn't really alter it too much by making it effective for humans."

"So we're pretty much like the frog, unchanged from the variant reality," she concluded.

"Yes. Umm, I take it that you haven't seen Jarod recently. Not since your row?"

"No. Why?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Because his appearance has changed a great deal since you came here. Not only his appearance but just about everything about him."

"You're only saying that because the insane genius is so jealous of you," she dismisses half-blithely.

"According to his family, this spate of jealousy is very unlike him. Also being so unkept and focused on the secret formulas he has been making is equally unusual."

"I never knew the mad-monkey genius personally. This is the first time we've ever been close since we were kids. There weren't too many other people around except for Angelo but I would have to agree that his jealousy did catch me off guard."

"It is so bad that I'm unable to observe him as often as I have you. In addition to his strange hatred of me, he is…umm there was a word that Daniel used." Norwood was searching his mind for the right word.

"I believe the word you're looking for is 'obsessed'. I know because Ethan mentioned something to me about Jarod's behavior. I'm sure it's nothing more than a passing phase."

"Normally I would agree because you know Jarod so much better but the looks on his father and sister's face tell me otherwise. Once, when they forced him out to bathe, I sneaked into his study room and found writing all over the place. He has chalkboards and bulletin boards all over the room and some lying on the floor and some on the ceiling. Each is covered with highly complex computations. Now you say, 'for a genius—what else would you expect?' The scary thing about these formulas and equations is that they are completed. I'm talking about a type of math that lay people barely knows exists. Quantum theory seems for him to be no more difficult than finding percentages for others."

"What's the purpose for all the formulas?"

"I do not know. By the time I found one of interest, I could hear them returning and quickly left before he saw me."

"I'll have to move up my timetable for retrieving my nephew. I'll see you later," she said as she quickly ran upstairs to her room.

She had been gone no more than a minute when I heard a faint noise behind me. Luckily, I did hear the sound or else he would've gotten a solid hit. Since my harrowing days as a scrawny kid growing up in Buenos Aires' expensive private schools for the wealthy, I developed a sort of warning antenna for others sneaking up to beat me senseless. Several terrible beatings at the hands of what my mother optimistically kept calling my school 'friends' taught me this facility.

Out of the blue, Jarod walked up and threw a wild punch at me. Weakened by having so little to eat and what appeared to be no sleep for several days also slowed his usual agile reflexes. Therefore the blow only grazed my left shoulder, but it still hurt like the devil. Not wishing to be party to any accurate punches, I did what any good, scrawny scientist, who has the misfortune of looking like a character out of a children's book, would do—I ran like there was a fire in my shoes.

Quick thinking has never been a problem for me, so when I spotted Major Charles coming in from grocery shopping, I headed straight for him and deftly ran past him then doubled back. Jarod apparently anticipated me and caught me on the other side of his father before the other could act. My frantic twisting and screaming brought the others to my aid before the genius could give me a proper thrashing. The major took hold of one arm, while Daniel took hold of his other and literally pulled determined maniac off of me.

"Jarod, calm down—stop it!" the major commanded his son sternly. Jarod thoroughly ignored him and kept trying to come after me.

"Norwood, are you alright? Why did he attack you?" Emily asked in the kindest of tones.

"I've been worse, believe me. I did nothing to him. I had been speaking calmly to Miss Parker when he came out of no where. There was no provocation."

"You little liar! I saw you kissing her!" the man was incensed beyond reasoning. It seemed the very thought of the girl kissing me riled him even further. And who is he calling little? He's not much bigger than me!

My face must've turned red at the accusation because of the disappointed and knowing look that came over Emily's face. Stammering, I tried to acquit myself. It is her whom I like, not the wily, troubled girl, Parker.

"Parker threatened me when I tried to get her to tell me something. Then to show me she meant business, she walked up to me and kissed me!" I said truthfully. It was only when the words were out of my mouth that I could hear how thin and pathetic they sounded.

The incredulous look in Emily's beautiful eyes told me that she didn't fully believe me. I looked over to Daniel for support but even he had a half smile on his face. This is one of the many repercussions of being threatened by Parker. She does it so effectively that no one believes you in the end.

Without responding, Ethan went directly upstairs and met his sister who had just exited her room. The little vixen was unaware of the chaos she had left in her wake. A quiet exchange occurred between the siblings as the major placed a calm hand on his oldest son's chest and began to reason with him. Ethan walked his vixen sister over to our sad tableau but she refused to stop until Ethan angrily called after her. Stopping short, Parker turned around and looked at us but her eyes denied Jarod any acknowledgement.

"Please, Parker tell them what happened. Jarod wants to kill me because of your threat," this came out too much like begging, I'm ashamed to say.

"Alright! Yes, I kissed Norwood because he was annoying me and I wanted to make sure I had his attention," she responded haltingly. In her face I could see the breakdown of the merge once again come into play. The adult version would never have admitted to what she had done. "Someone remind Rain Man that we broke up a couple months ago and this jealousy thing is just one big turnoff." She turned and slowly headed towards the exit.

"See, I told you. What I said was the truth," I spoke only to Emily. It was only her opinion that I cared about.

"What did you do that annoyed her so much?" Emily asked calmly. She was a bit older than me but she was smart and compassionate—exactly the type of woman I've always wanted. However, Parker's threat was still ringing in my ears and checking on her progress out of the building, I could see the she was still within earshot as her gait slowed to hear my answer. There was still so much data to be collected and Parker was fast becoming my only half-cooperative subject. All I could do in answer was to swallow nervously and look down at the ground. Science had never exacted such a heavy toll on me before.

"Jarod, this insane jealousy is eating you alive. My sister isn't interested in Norwood—or anyone else for that matter. Come on, let's go back to your room so you can cool off. Norwood, you should probably leave," Ethan said with weary resignation.

I watched as they slowly led Jarod back to his crowded study room. Briefly my heart calmed a bit as I felt Emily softly touch my arm in acknowledgment to the wrong her brother had visited upon me.

"Ethan's right, why don't you take a break from your research and get some fresh air. It's a beautiful day outside," she said firmly. With a parting smile, she left me standing there.

I rushed out of the cannery hoping to possibly catch up with Parker to see where she was going. Sometimes it's like I never learn. I came flying out of the door and looked both ways until a voice made me turn around.

"I need an escort and you're just what the doctor ordered. They're a few things I have to pick up that I can't buy on the Internet," Parker commented with knowing sarcasm.

"How did you know I would follow? You even knew where to wait." I asked, completely perplexed.

"Doesn't matter. I have some errands to run and not all of them in the best neighborhoods," she answered as she pushed away from the wall and started walking down the street.

I fell into step with her whiletrying to get a more definitive answer out of her. Those voices were strange and seemed to be able to tell her all sorts of things. In the middle of my fruitless interrogation, Parker suddenly stopped and stared into the picture window of a shop.

"Why are we stopping here? What could you possibly need here?" I asked peering through the window of a neat and pristine hair salon. It seemed no matter what I did, I unintentionally kept paying her complements.

"I have an idea…"

I followed her inside and blanched as she gave the stylist specific instructions on what she wanted done. The black-hearted vixen slid into the chair and waited patiently for the woman to do as she was asked.

"No! You will not do this! I absolutely forbid it!" I was at the end of my rope. Instead of screaming at me, the little tyrant gave me a toothy, almost friendly grin and settled herself more comfortably in the seat. A change in tactics would be necessary. "Please, don't do this," I begged while swallowing my pride. She had that ethereally stubborn look on her face that said she wouldn't consider my request. "If you do, you know Jarod and his whole family will blame me for this butchery!"

"Well, kiddo what will it be?" the stylist asked as she draped a long plastic smock around the vixen's shoulders. "This poor guy looks like he's going to have a heart attack." At Parker's dismissive shrug, the woman looked at me and tried to console me. "Don't worry. I'll make her look wonderful."

I felt horrible. I couldn't leave and I couldn't look. I sat heavily in a guest chair and leaned forward with my hands covering my face. "I'm a scientist. All I really want from you is to observe and learn. You're both intelligent and articulate and able to give me the data I seek. I mean you absolutely no harm but it seems at every turn you purposely delight in sticking knives in me. Your man doesn't accept that you no longer love him and he's too sick and distracted to understand how deeply he's hurt you. Please don't take this out on me."

There was a period of silence, then the sound of scissors cutting hair greedily started in earnest. Fortunately, my agony was over in about 15 minutes when I felt someone impatiently tap my shoulder and demand $40 from me. On top of doing something I was heartily opposed to, she wanted me to pay for it. Knowing if I refused she would no longer allow me to continue to observe the breakdown of the merge in her, I handed over the bills, still refusing to look up at her.

The door to the shop slammed and everything went quiet. I thought perhaps that she had left me in all my total misery.

"You can look up now," the beautician said sympathetically. "She's waiting for you outside. I do good work. It's not half as bad as you think. I believe she took pity on you. She's really a cute kid."

"That's no kid, she's a full grown woman with a heart of stone," I said bitterly.

The beautician laughed heartily and carefully gathered the long tresses she clipped from Parker. I watched for few seconds more, then went outside to see what the woman was laughing about. When I saw Parker, I almost fainted in relief. She had originally asked the woman to cut her hair close to the nape of her neck, in a boy's style. Instead, her hair had been shorn but only to the tops of her shoulder blades. It was a major concession and one that made me feel ashamed of thinking so meanly of her.

Parker smirked and dragged me around town on an odyssey that was both fascinating and at times frightening. In addition to her very unusual purchases, she brought a few odd items that were more like presents. She did this after a very long moment of consulting with what had to be those voices in her mind, which in turn made me ask a litany of questions. Staring out of the window, she replied quietly that they were presents for people she would probably never see again. Her statement was made with dry eyes but her expression and the way she clutched those presents was extremely sad. I was infected by her low mood, so I immediately changed the subject, which made her roll her eyes and exercise a great deal of patience. It made me very happy that I gave her the money, though it was on our way back to the cannery when she advised that the woman paid her for the hair and the money from me was for the long cab ride home.'