It had been around six in the evening, when his cell phone rang. He felt disturbed in his quitting time peace. Nevertheless he had answered the phone and was quite pissed by the voice on the other side of the line. A voice he hadn't heard a word from since days.

"Hey…uh…sorry that I call you…but…I've a little problem." The voice had begun to stammer. Of course. Great words, followed by greater actions but now he sat in a mess and needed daddy, but not this time. This boy was old enough.

"Yes and now you should see how to deal with it." He had answered.

"Dad some of our friends are following me since days and I…don't get rid of them." His son had sounded nervous, but he hadn't cared. His son had gotten himself into this mess. He could have staid and everything would be alright now.

"And where are you now?"

"Uh…somewhere in Canada…Vancouver I guess." 'What? What the hell had led him to that? Did he now go crazy or what?'

"What in hell's name are you doing in Vancouver?"

"Actually…well…I don't know. I just tried to get rid of those black pickup trucks." This sounded really serious. But now he was in Vancouver and that made things a little more complicated. He sat in Texas, how should he be able to help his son somewhere in Vancouver?

"I would recommend that you come back." He had barked, a bit. He didn't want to be mean, but in somehow he had no control of his voice and he had no plan either, how to help his son. But he couldn't let him know that.

"The last time I had been in Texas, me and my bike nearly had a rendezvous with the roadside ditch and the other time I was close to kiss a lamppost. I don't think that returning to Texas would increase my lifespan." 'Okay, this really doesn't sound that good. But what in hell shell I do about it? He's in Vancouver, how can I help him there anyway? And he is old enough. He should be able to deal with this situation. He had been in worse ones.'

"Son, sorry that I have to say this, but you've decided for an AWOL. I didn't force you to." His way to hide that he had to clue what his son could do. He always bean to be rude, when he realized that he had reached a limit. He hated the feeling of helplessness. He was a NASA commander. He wasn't allowed to be helpless, he wasn't allowed to be without paln.

"Okay, I would consider that as a matter of interpretation. But thanks. The next time I'm going to save your ass, remind me of the fact that everyone is only responsible for his own shit in our family." Now his son sounded pissed. That wasn't his problem. He had navigated himself into this mess. He wasn't the one to carry the can for it. His son should start to take the responsibility of his life and actions into his own hands and he should stop blaming others for his misery.

"Neil…"

"Yeah, yhea I know, when I'm going to survive this you wanna hear a nice sorry, but this is not going to happen, even not, when I'll survive." This broke the camel's back. Who in hell's name did his son though who he was? He was nothing more than a striking pain up his ass and he behaved like a stubborn five year old kid.

"Neil, damn…" 'it'. His son had broken up the call. What should he think now? Maybe things weren't as bad as he had described them. He was sure that in a few days Neil would come back again.

---

Later that night he had received the call from a hospital in Vancouver. This time Neil hasn't had any luck. He had been hit by a car. They hadn't been sure if he would survive this. He wanted to take Paige and head off to Vancouver. But he couldn't. He had met Dr. McQueans at NASA. He had explained him what this time travel had been in real and he had explained him that Neil wasn't safe. He hadn't believed him. He wasn't able to believe that Neil should be the key. His son only was the one good for some research, nothing more. Okay, he was brainy, but that wasn't very significant. He had underestimated his son. Now he had gotten the proof that his son really was more than just a researcher. Again he hadn't seen what potential his son bore on his shoulders. Again he had failed. What if he had believed in what Dr. McQueans had said? Would he have been able to save his son? His youngest? This skinny boy? Would he have been able to prevent this? He had rated on his son. He had let him down, left him alone. He had let his little boy alone. And what was the result? This tiny, skinny boy now lay in a hospital somewhere at the end of the world, fighting for his life and he couldn't be there for him. But his son needed him. He couldn't do this on his own. He needed someone who helped him through this, someone who told him that he had to keep on fighting, that he had to hold on and not to give up. But he was alone. There was nobody there for him. He was all alone, on his own. He had been in shock. He had trouble to remain calm, trouble to stay, trouble not to get into the next airplane to Vancouver. His thoughts only swirled around his son and around the words from Dr. McQueans, telling him that there was no other way than keeping his son away from them. As more as he would get involved into their mission, the more would he be in danger. This had been the proof. They wanted him to be dead and the only way to save him was this institution and to hold him there they would have to take his memory. He immediately had understood why. His son would have come back. His son wouldn't have let them down, no matter how dangerous things were. It had been the most awful decision he has had to make, but he had to agree if he wanted his son to be safe. He was full of panic and fear. Dr. McQueans wife had assured him that she wouldn't allow his son to die, but he knew much too well that this skinny boy had his own head and when he decided nobody would be able to hold him back. He was more like his mother than one wished he was. He only wished that his son also was such a strong fighter and wouldn't give up. He had been close to head off to Vancouver. He wasn't sure if Neil was able to fight this in his own, without anyone on his side.

"What's wrong with you?" Paige had entered the study. He looked up at her.

"Nothing." 'Our son has had a bad accident. He probably won't survive this and if he does, he will wake up and nobody of us will be there. He will wake up and a part of his memory would be vanished and he won't understand what's going on', he answered her inwardly. He couldn't tell her. She would freak out and this was the last thing he needed now. Now he had to think of his son's safety, this was on first place. Paige wouldn't be able to stay here, while one of her children was in mortal danger. He was sure, if he once would tell her, that she would kill him for that. This even could be a reason for her to leave him. Although she never had shown it too much, he knew how much she loved her little son. Every harsh word she had spoken to him, every punishment had hurt her, because she was aware of the fact that she had no clue how to deal with her youngest. This only had been a sign of overtaxing. But she really loved him as he did, but they were so afraid that he might lose his track and then went on a track of fast destruction.

"It doesn't look like nothing. Who had called you?" She dug deeper.

"Just someone from the centre. Nothing important." 'It was the hospital in Vancouver. They told me that our son might die within the next hours.'

"You're hiding something from me?" She was right. Of course she recognized that something wasn't right. He only shook his head. He didn't want to lie more than necessary. He already was frightened enough. Frightened of his little boy, of what was going to happen, if he really wouldn't make it, afraid of how he should tell Paige about all this one time and afraid of what was going to happen, if his son would make it.

"No, no, don't worry, it's really nothing." He had assured her. She hadn't lost this critical look in her eyes. She knew that he was hiding something, but she didn't dug deeper. She knew how to handle the stubbornness of a Taggart, she knew that keeping on would lead to nothing.