Getting to Know You

By Cadillac Red

Synopsis: Some truths come out of Jeffrey and Bogg as they begin to bond in the early days of their partnership.

I do not own these characters, I have just loved them for decades and always wished the series continued past the first season.

Jeffrey gazed at the family they had just saved as they walked away. A man and his wife and their little boy hugging each other in relief as they were reunited following Bogg's quick action to save them all from a tenement fire. Someday the boy would be a doctor and he'd save the life of someone else who would play a pivotal role in history three decades from now. But for now, they were just a family, still alive and together, and grateful for it.

The Voyager took out something that looked like a pocket watch and opened it, already moving on from the heroism he'd just displayed. Jeffrey watched Bogg check the status of his Omni. Just another day at the office, the 11-year-old thought, shaking his head. But the hole in his heart seemed to just grow larger as he thought of the young boy holding the hands of his parents. Something Jeffrey would never do again.

"Green light, kid," Bogg said. "Time to go."

"Can we just take a little break?" Jeffrey said furiously, letting his anger come out as a way to avoid the tears that were threatening. "Do we have to just race off to the next disaster?"

Phineas Bogg's face softened. "No. If you want to take a breather, let's do that. We can go get something to eat—"

"I don't want something to eat! I want—I want… that! I want my parents back!"

Bogg paused, not sure what to say to the boy. It had been a little over a month since Jeffrey had accidentally joined him in his travels. And only a few months before that his parents had been killed in a car accident. No wonder seeing the other family reunited and walking away whole and healthy hit him hard.

"Sure. I get it, Jeff. I know what it's like—"

"No! You don't know. You can't possibly know what it's like for me!" Jeffrey hollered, so loud that people on the street stopped to see what was wrong.

"Just stop saying things that aren't true!" he continued. "Just—just leave me alone!" With those words, Jeffrey took off at a run, down the street and around the corner.

Bogg exhaled forcefully, not sure what to do to help the boy. As hard as it was for Jeffrey, it was just as hard for him to have a young boy to think about and protect now. He'd never wanted that, and wasn't sure how it happened to him. He'd found Jeffrey in 1982 when Bogg's omni wasn't supposed to go past 1970. That alone was a mystery. But an even bigger mystery was how he, a young, single man with no ties before now, was supposed to take care of a kid, while fulfilling his role as a Voyager.

They'd rubbed along well for the past weeks, and Jeffrey had proven himself useful, very useful. His knowledge of history was actually better than the darn guidebook Jeffrey's dog had eaten, if Bogg was honest with himself. But… but he wasn't equipped to deal with whatever emotional turmoil the 11 year old was experiencing. That was clear now, for sure.

Still uncertain what to do for the child, Bogg headed off after Jeffrey. Once he calmed down, they could talk about what to do next. Maybe there was someplace he could drop Jeffrey off. Or maybe he should 'fess up to the Voyagers Headquarters and let them find the right place in time for Jeffrey Jones.

He somehow knew the boy would head to a park where they first landed in this time zone. Jeffrey said it reminded him of Central Park in New York, but smaller and not surrounded by high-rise buildings. Just the part called "the Great Meadow" according to Jeffrey.

Bogg spotted him sitting under a tree, his head on his bent knees. "Bat's breath," he whispered to himself. He'd hoped the boy would have simply gotten over whatever was bothering him and they could avoid talking about it. So much for that idea.

Bogg walked up to the tree and turned his back to the trunk, then slid down to sit next to Jeffrey. And waited for the boy to acknowledge him.

Without raising his head, Jeffrey finally spoke. "You can't know what it's like," he said. "I never even got a chance to say goodbye to them."

Bogg nodded and sighed. "I know that must hurt. It… it hurt when it happened to me."

Jeffrey raised his head and turned his tear-streaked face to Bogg, a questioning look in his eyes.

Bogg stared out into the middle distance, and fought a battle with himself about how much to share. "I'm from an area of Scotland called Berwickshire. On the border between Scotland and England. My family were turf farmers. We worked the bogs – and that's where my name comes from—for centuries. Turfing peat is hard, backbreaking work. I went to school for a short time at the local church but once I was big enough to hold my own, I went to work with my father. I… hated it. Even then I knew there was something more out there, in the world. But I couldn't see how I would ever get to see it."

He shook his head. "Now that I think on it, I guess my father was just a few years older than me when I saw him last. But he looked … old. He was old from a lifetime of cutting and harvesting peat."

"We went to the market town once a month and I couldn't wait to get there and go down to the docks whenever I got to go along. Just seeing the ships, thinking of all the places they would go, was so exciting. I was a couple of years older than you, I think, when I met some sailors who bought me a meat pasty and some ale, and told me all about their adventures at sea." Bogg smiled, remembering the treat his father would never have wasted money on. "They were privateers. They asked me if I wanted to go to sea. I said yes, but that I couldn't. Because my parents needed me on the farm. They bought me another ale and then another. I was a big lad, strapping they said. They told me I'd make a fine sailor. I knew I needed to get back to my father but I stayed a little longer than I should have. I'm not really sure what happened next. I think someone conked me on the head. When I woke up and went up on deck, all I could see was ocean. I couldn't even see the shore."

Bogg paused and all he could hear was breathing, his own and Jeffrey's. "I never got a chance to say goodbye to my father or mother. Or my younger brothers and sisters. I never saw any of them again. I ended up getting taken up by another ship after a raid and we sailed out to the Caribbean. They were pirates, not privateers. And I spent a few years at sea but we never made it back anywhere near where I came from."

"But.. after you became a Voyager, couldn't you go back and see them?"

Bogg smiled at him. "Well, that would be a big violation. They… remove us from the timeline after we can no longer affect it. I told you about that. So going back and telling them something about where I went, or what happened, that could affect it. Maybe. Anyway, it would be against the rules. And you know I never break the rules…."

"Except for that time you picked up a stray orphan in New York and took him along for the ride," Jeffrey said. "I guess that's a big no-no too, huh?"

"Well… I'm not sure about that. It might be considered innovating after losing my handbook. At least that's what I've been telling myself." He briefly wondered how the powers that be at headquarters would see it but pushed the thought aside. Jeffrey was the only thing that mattered right now.

Jeffrey sighed. "Bogg, I'm sorry about what I said. I – I never even thought about how it was for you when you became a Voyager. I guess I was being selfish."

Bogg put an arm around the boy's shoulders and hugged him. "You are smart and quick-witted and surprisingly adaptable, Jeffrey. But you're not selfish. And you are still a kid. I'll try not to forget it. And you try not to forget it too, okay? Because if we're gonna stay together, I need you to know I won't always overlook a smart mouth. One of us is an adult. And one of us is a kid."

"If?" Jeffrey breathed. "Does that mean you might want to get rid of me-?"

"No! I want you with me." He surprised himself as he said it, but he knew in his heart it was true. "It just seems like the right thing, for both of us, Jeffrey. But I need to know you trust me and will tell me when something's bothering you. If you need a break. Or anything else. I'm new to this, you know."

He stood and held out a hand to help Jeffrey to his feet. A grin wiped all memory of the earlier emotional storm off the boy's face. "So, I guess what you're saying is… I'm the one of us who's a kid?" With that he loped off into the meadow, looking back over his shoulder to see if Bogg followed.

"Smart kids give me a pain," the Voyager said as he caught up to him in a couple of strides. The man snaked a long arm around the boy and tossed him over his shoulder, both of them laughing.

And man and boy disappeared.

THE END