Yes, I'm putting a flashback chapter in here. It might seem kind of out of place right now, but it'll make sense why I put it here when you read Chapter 20. For now, enjoy a little peek into what Mina got up to in the time before she went off with her family again! :)

Dallas, Texas

January 20, 1961

Pain danced angrily against my spine as I slammed helplessly onto the dark pavement below me. I let myself lay there for a moment, my mind drifting away, until I reached over to my left and felt nothing but asphalt. Relaxation snapped into panic as I realized I must have dropped my brother's arm at some point in travel; I had lost him to time yet again.

Frantic, I shot up, electing to ignore a flash I spotted in my peripheral vision, and rushed out of the alleyway, slipping slightly thanks to those damn shoes.

"Five?" I shouted, desperately hoping I'd spot him out in the crowd. "Klaus! Vanya!"

Couples, mothers with children, and individuals strolled by, casting their glances to the girl screaming seemingly random names and wearing clothes very different from theirs.

This couldn't have been right. Five made it sound like we were just going back to our childhood so we could fix things with Vanya. I thought that's why, right before we jumped, we all looked 13 again. But now, all of a sudden, I was back in my 29-year-old body, and this definitely was long before our childhoods.

"Is somethin' wrong, doll? You look dazed."

I shook my head, coming back out of my own thoughts. A woman with a bright, alluring smile and soft features cocked her head at me, eyeing me with caution. I didn't blame her, honestly. I was standing in an alleyway, eyes bouncing around all confused, and I certainly didn't look like any of the women strolling by on the street. Not to mention, what I was about to ask would only make me seem more insane…

"Um…" My voice cracked a little as the words garbled in my throat, all the moisture suddenly sucked out of it. "This is going to make me sound cracked out, but—"

"'Cracked out'? Honey, I'm sorry, but I can't understand what you're sayin'." I took a deep breath, attempting to compose myself. I just had to get to the point and hope this woman wouldn't call for help and get me locked up… one way or the other.

"Could you tell me the date?" The woman let out a breathy laugh, her eyes squinting closed as she did.

"You're certainly a strange one." Still, she removed the newspaper from under her arm and held it out to me, allowing me to read the date and the headline.

'January 20, 1961: Kennedy Inaugural to be Broadcast.'

19…61…

I slammed the newspaper down to my side.

"Godammit."

One Year Later

The enticing scents of sweet, fluffy pancakes opened my eyelids with loving fingertips, motivating me out of bed. In the space next to me, the covers had already been tossed back, a sign the person that inhabited that side had thrown herself out suddenly. I chuckled as I shook my head, admiring how she had the motivation to get up before the sun to make sure she accomplished everything for the day before she headed off to work. Even on a pleasant but chilly Saturday like today, she kept up the same schedule, not wanting to throw herself off. I, on the other hand, was enjoying the freedom from the restraints my life before had placed on me. No one expected me at class by seven a.m., my siblings weren't jumping on my bed to wake me up the second the clock struck six (although, admittedly, that was only Ben), and no overbearing father was screaming at us to get out of our beds before the sun came up; I never thought I'd love working at night so much, but goddamn, I never wanted to go back.

With an enthusiastic flair, I shoved my feet into the pair of slippers waiting patiently at the foot of the bed, then pranced down the stairs, eager to see the face I'd been deprived of this morning.

Surrounded by the angelic glow of sunbeams shooting in through the window, there she stood, just turning the stove off. The yellow light gave her red locks a sort of golden sheen, the specks of dust floating around her somehow only enhancing her angelic glow. Even after all this time, the moment my eyes rested on her, I felt my stomach begin to twist itself up, and my heart threatened to burst free from my chest. It certainly didn't help when she turned around and flashed that welcoming smile, her blue eyes falling on me in my wrinkled pajamas, short hair a mess atop my head.

I'd never understand how I got this lucky.

As carefully as I could, I made my way over to the set of curtains resting by the window that opened up to the street and gently pulled them shut, making sure to take every precaution in this god forsaken neighborhood.

"Good morning, Helen," I greeted, feeling safe enough to stand by her side and press a kiss against her cheek. Almost immediately, she leaned her head against my chest, prompting me to set one arm around her waist as she reached over and moved the pan she'd been using off the burner.

"'Mornin', doll." I inhaled sharply, my heart skipping a beat. Normally, I hated that nickname—it felt condescending, no matter what gender's mouth it came out of— but there was something about the way Helen said it that made it so charming.

I never thought I would let myself be this in love. Sure, I'd had crushes on different girls throughout my life, but I'd always come up with some sort of excuse: I had to focus on my dancing, I didn't have time with my busy schedule, we'd have to get back to the Academy eventually and pretend we didn't know what the world outside was like when enjoyed.

I'd caught myself doing the same thing when Helen first took me in; I kept telling myself I had to get out there and look for my siblings, and hope they were alive and in Dallas—not that I wasn't willing to go to any end of the earth to find them. When I'd first emerged from the alley I'd dropped into, she just happened to be the first person to walk by that didn't stare at me like I was a madwoman. My hair was a complete mess, my clothes were far too 'progressive' for the time, and I was wearing bowling shoes, for God's sake- yet she still gave me the time of day. Of course, among other things, she noticed the way I looked, how thin and unhealthy my frame was, and she told me she knew some people that could help me. I'd hesitated for a bit, but I eventually chose to take a leap. At that point, I was desperate, the words of my brothers and Allison deep in my mind, reminding me I still had a life to live.

It hadn't been an easy road. I lived with her, and while some family friends tried their best to help me, I'd resisted at times, falling back into the old self I found comfortable and familiar; I screamed, I tried to run, I felt like a child, but through it all, Helen was there to help pick me back up. And after all the fight left me, I started to get better. I could acknowledge my childhood for what it had done to me, but understood it was nothing more than my past now, and what mattered was how I went through life from here. There were other factors, too, particularly making sure I wasn't overfed right on the spot, but rather progressively introduced to a healthy amount of food and good eating habits. My relationship with food, and with my life, had come back to me.

I think that's when I finally told myself I could slow down and rest for a while. I never stopped thinking about my brothers and sisters, lost somewhere in the world, but I became preoccupied with other things.

I couldn't quite place one exact moment when I'd fallen for the woman I spent so much time with, but once the realization hit me, it was like everything suddenly slowed down. I felt like I had all the time in the world, but more than anything, I was afraid. By that point, I'd completely come to terms with the fact that in this time, who I was wasn't deemed acceptable by society's standards, and if Helen was more traditional than she had let on, I could be putting myself in serious danger.

People always talked about those inhumane 'therapy sessions', promised to 'cure' what was 'wrong'. It seemed like everyone around her family's dinner table knew someone that they felt belonged there, and every time they talked about it, I had to try my best to keep down the surging, roaring anger that threatened to jump out at any moment. I'd been so wrapped up in that, I never really stopped to try and steal a glance at Helen through the conversation.

I'd been left wondering for so long, but I'd been so afraid of the potential disastrous outcomes, that I just started to push things down, and pretend I'd never felt anything for her. It hadn't been hard before, but now, something had shifted; the more I tried to ignore my thoughts, the warmth in my chest, the thumping of my heart, the worse it made everything. I felt like, if I wasn't by her as often as I could be, my insides would just melt and slither away.

For the first time in my life, I was in love.

I didn't know what to do when I came to that conclusion. I didn't know how to act, how to sit, how to talk to Helen. How do you act like you don't love someone? Especially when it's all so new to you? I wasn't so sure I could keep up the charade for much longer.

And then, one night after we'd returned from dinner at her parents', Helen had gone completely silent. I eyed her worriedly as she shut the door behind her, gaze never leaving the floor. I wondered if her family had said something in the time between when I went out to the car and when she came out of the house.

Before I got the chance to ask, she stepped up to me suddenly, and without even hesitating, she pressed a hand against my cheek and pulled me down to her, kissing me so delicately, I worried she was going to fall apart if I moved and closer. Everything inside me exploded, fizzling into a thousand tiny bubbles that bounced about against my skin. It felt so surreal, and yet, when I opened my eyes again, everything was still the way it had been right before I closed them. I didn't dare to ask what prompted the sudden action, mainly because I was too elated to give a damn.

"Mina, baby?"

I blinked rapidly, shifting my head to glance down at Helen. Her face wore a conflicting mix of amusement and concern, the two expressions fighting for dominance as she attempted to get my attention. Thankfully, when she noticed I'd come back out of my mind, she smiled again.

"You were pretty deep in your mind there," she laughed, removing herself from my grip so she could serve everything up. "What were you daydreamin' about?"

I followed her, almost in a daze, to the table she'd had set up in the kitchen, opting to take a seat beside her, rather than across, like most mornings. The moment she set the plates down, I reached for her hand and brought it to my lips, an exploding, overwhelming need to display affection suddenly taking over me.

"You," I sighed, causing her to shake her head. "I'm serious!"

"I figured you'd be thinkin' 'bout your family," she teased, offering me a smirk before raising her fork in the air and cutting away a piece of the fluffy circles. "Have you heard anything recently? Any phone calls, anything in the paper?"

Though she seemed genuinely invested at that moment, my family was the furthest thing from my mind. It wasn't that I had completely decided to give up on them, but at this point, I just wanted to let them come to me. I had other things to worry about, other people to give my attention to.

"You know what?" I laughed. "They haven't even crossed my mind in a while."

This was my life, at least for now. I wanted to enjoy as much of it as possible, even if it meant I took some days just to spend them with the woman I loved.