Not even having two jobs can stop me from delivering you this fresh chapter! Seriously, though, totally sorry for the delay. Managed to squeeze this out and I just finished. As promised, it's a new part of the "Five souls" story. This one takes a little more slice-of-life, I just wanna establish things and set it up for when I do the next part. Thank you all for the views, it's always to see that counter go up even when I haven't updated for a while. Enough of me talking. Enjoy!

(Brian and Andrew are 13)

Being in the last year of middle school does strange things to a child's mind. While you were among the oldest students in the school, the creeping truth that you would be back on the bottom rung come this time next year in high school was always there. It was the kind of idea that determined those who were ready to move on to the next stage, and those who wanted to stay and bask in their superiority for a little longer.

Brian was neither of these kids. He wasn't afraid of the jungle of high school. At the same time, he never looked down on those younger than him and looked on them with a degree of pity for how they were treated by his peers. An attitude like this is only right for Brian to have. After all, he's been through worse.

After his trip to the house of the old man when he was young, Brian has been rather busy with his traveling. He still can't quite control it, and is bound to vanish every so often. The advice given to him by his time traveling friends, however, has allowed him to be on his toes whenever it happens. His family has long known about it as well. It took some time to adjust, but they to at least keep clothes of all sizes at hand.

School has not been too difficult for him either. He had yet to accidentally travel during school, and he was perfectly fine with keeping it that way. He practiced breathing exercises (his mother's idea) to keep calm if he felt himself about to travel. One other thing that's kept him on the ground has been...

"Brian!" Andrew shouted from the end of the hall. Andrew, the young man he met during his first travel, turned out to live on the other side of the town Brian lived. He hadn't found this out until the first year of middle school.

"Hey." Brian replied.

"Hey, yourself. You passed right by me and didn't say anything. You spacing out again?" Andrew asked. Brian did have the tendency to look off into space at random points in time. He would often travel during these times without even realizing it.

"I guess I was. Sorry." Brian smiled.

"Well, so long as you didn't end up anywhere. You really gotta be careful." Andrew always emphasized being careful about traveling, more so than the other travelers Brian knew.

"I know, I know. I can't really help it. I just find myself drifting. You've known me for this long, but you still haven't given up on telling me to be careful."

"Well, I just feel I need to. You've been the only friend I've gotten that knows what I go through."

"I'm not the only one." Brian interjected.

"I meant the only one see normally. You know, with clothes on!" Some girls passed by with strange looks, which caused Andrew to blush and straighten himself. They left quickly, so he didn't have time to explain himself. "Neither of us have met any of the girls yet. We don't even know if they've been born by this time!"

"So?" Brian shrugged.

"So, if you end up getting yourself killed because you got your head in the clouds, I'd be left alone..." Andrew paused. "That's just not something good, time traveler or not."

"Relax, Andrew. I'm not going anywhere."

"You better not!"

Brian's house was within walking distance of the school, and both their parents agreed that after school, him and Andrew would hang out at his house until one of Andrew's parents came by to pick him up. Brian's mother would usually be home, so it was also useful for the summer holiday when there was no school. Knowing about their conditions made it easy for the families to bond and become quick friends.

Getting to the corner where Brian lived, they were greeted by the sight of a large moving van across the street. There were people coming in and out of the van, carrying various items of furniture. Nothing very fancy, but it didn't look cheaply made, either.

"Oh, yeah." Brian said. "I forgot someone bought the house across the street. Looks like they're getting everything in."

"I think it's a whole family moving in." Andrew was judging from the size of the house. "What do you think they're like?"

Brian shrugged. "Who knows? Doesn't really matter to me..." He started to walk towards his house again.

"It just might." Andrew commented, not moving from his spot.

"What?" Brian turned around. Andrew pointed towards the house, where a little girl had just ran out of the front door. They instantly recognized her from the top, full of curly chestnut colored hair, and as full of beans as she did from the day she first met Brian. "No way..."

"Could that be?" Andrew asked out loud.

"Only one way to find out." With that, Brian started towards the van and the girl.

"Wait." Andrew grabbed Brian's sleeve. "You can't just walk right up to her. What if she doesn't know who you are yet? She might not even be the same person at all."

Brian yanked his arm out of Andrew's grasp. "Then I'll give her a welcome to the neighborhood. It's always good to make kids feel welcome. If it's not her, this will all be a simple misunderstanding."

"Are you listening to yourself right now?" Andrew asked.

"I'm listening to you, and you sound way too nervous." Brian responded.

"So, he sounds the way he normally does." A voice between them chimed in. In the time that they were both arguing, the girl had taken notice of them and came up to them without their noticing. She had a yellow shirt on under blue overalls. They both stopped.

After a moment of being dumbfounded, Brian spoke up. "Is that you, Morgan?"

Morgan smiled that instantly recognizable smile they both came to know from her. "Yup! Do you guys live here?"

"My house is just across the street." Brian answered, pointing to his house.

"Cool!" Morgan beamed. "Can I hang out with you guys? My room's not finished yet, and I'm dying of boredom!"

"Uh...are you sure that's okay?" Andrew asked.

"Hang on. I'll go ask Mom!" Without another word, she sped back to her house.

"Her mom, huh?" Brian thought out loud. "You think she'll recognize us?"

"Please. That woman never forgets a face." Andrew answered.

After a minute, Morgan came back out of the house, holding the hand of a woman. She looked to be somewhere in her thirties, slightly overweight but otherwise looking healthy. She had the same kind of hair as Morgan, so there was no question that this was her mother.

"See? Told you they were here." Morgan was telling her.

"Well..." Morgan's mother started. "If it isn't Brian Thomas and Andrew Mason, in the present!"

"Hi, Gloria..." Both Andrew and Brian said at the same time. She was always insistent on being called by her first name, as she always wanted people to be comfortable if she could help it.

"The last time I saw the both of you, you were about Morgan's age. Yeah, I remember the both of you, so small and in your birthday suits. How could I forget, though? That was only two weeks ago!" She laughed heartily, a laugh that was unforgettable as far as the both of them were concerned. "Seriously, though. How are you boys? I didn't think you lived here."

"I didn't know you were moving here." Brian replied. "Big Morgan never said anything about it."

"Probably wanted to keep it a surprise. I know I would."

"As far as surprises go, this isn't a bad one." Andrew said.

"So can I hang out with them, please?" Morgan asked her mother.

"Would certainly be better than you being around a bunch of guys moving furniture. Go ahead."

"Thanks!" Morgan hugged her mother.

"Now you boys keep a good eye on her. I don't have to tell you how she's bound to get into trouble if someone's not watching her." Gloria said to Andrew and Brian. "And if you-know-what happens, tell me right away." They both nodded in response.

"So which one's your house, Brian?"

Brian's house matched the kind of quality as the rest of the homes on the block: More than a few decades old, but still holding a very modern appeal on the inside. There were three rooms. One for his parents, one for him, and one for his little sister. No appliance in the house was more than ten years old, so one could tell they were up on current technology.

"Mom, we're home!" Brian shouted into the house.

"Just a second, you guys." A voice from deeper within the house said. A woman then walked into the living room. She seemed younger than Gloria, though not by much. She had blonde hair, like Brian himself, tied into a low ponytail. "How was school? I hope you..." She paused. "Morgan? When did you get here? And you're already dressed?"

"I'm not traveling, Mrs. Thomas!" Morgan giggled.

"She's the one who's moving into the house across the street." Brian motioned at the front window. "Funny, isn't it?"

"Huh..." Brian's mother crossed her arms and looked at Morgan curiously. "So you were this young the whole time. Patty will be happy to see this."

"She still at practice?" Brian asked.

His mother nodded. "She'll be back around five. Are you gonna be here until then, Morgan?"

"Yeah. I wanna see her!" Morgan replied excitedly.

"Well, okay then." Brian's mother smiled. "She'll be safe with you, right?" She turned towards Brian.

"Yeah. If I can handle Patty, she's fine with us."

Brian's room was...your typical boy's room. Movie and video game posters adorned the walls, his television and game systems at the center of the wall, and his big bed in the middle of it.

"Wow. It looks so different from the last time I was here." Morgan said, looking all over the room.

"I think the last time you were here...how old are you again?" Brian asked.

"Ten."

"Right. It was after the first time I traveled when I was six. You were eating the food Mom gave me." He put his hands at his hips.

"I was hungry. What was I supposed to do?"

"You at least could have stuck around until Mom came into my room. She told me I was dreaming there was a naked girl in my room."

"I couldn't help that either. I'm sorry." Morgan looked very guilty as she said that.

"Ah, it's water under the bridge." Brian replied. "Besides, she got to know you later on. You came here again when you're older."

Morgan giggled. "So I've known you for a while, huh?"

"Yup."

"So how have you seen any of the others? Tina or Florence?" Andrew asked.

"Only when I travel." She answered. "I saw Tina when she was older, and Florence, too."

"I guess it's still gonna be a while before we meet them, huh?" Brian mused.

"Dang. Here, I thought I'd be getting some perspective." Andrew crossed his arms.

"Enough about that." Brian interrupted, then turned to Morgan. "Anything you wanna do right now?"

"Let's play something. I've had my eye on the controller since we got here!"

Brian had plenty of kid-friendly games. Platformers were a favorite of his, so it was hardly ever an issue of what game to get when concerning Patty. Morgan enjoyed them quite a bit herself.

"I think we can leave her here. She'll be fine." Brian told Andrew once she got to playing. "We stay here any longer, we won't get our homework done."

"You make that sound like a bad thing." Andrew joked. "Morgan, Brian and I are gonna be over in the kitchen, doing homework. Call us if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay!" Morgan answered, not even looking away from the screen.

"This isn't so hard..." Andrew said on the way to the kitchen. "Just keep them distracted."

"You were that young and easily distracted once, too." Brian retorted. "Don't act like you were a good kid."

"Yeah, I'm sure you were the picture of good behavior."

A half hour had passed by Brian and Andrew before they knew it. They both had tests coming up, so they had a bit of a workload. They envied Morgan, whose main concern was likely multiplication, as far as they were concerned.

"Hey." Andrew said after they were both finished.

"Yeah?"

"You think we should check on her? It's been at least twenty minutes and she hasn't asked for anything."

"Hmm...you're right." Brian stood up from his seat. "I'll go see if she's still there." On his way to his room, he could still hear sounds of the game being played, which confirmed to him she hadn't traveled. It was a different game, too, which meant she found something new to occupy herself with. However, there seemed to be more sounds coming from his room.

"You're cheating!"

"You just gotta know the level like I do..."

"What was the button for items, again?"

Morgan wasn't alone anymore. But who was also with her? He quickened his pace to get to his room. Peering inside, he got a look at what was happening. To his surprise, it was Tina and Florence, playing a racing game along with Morgan. Tina seemed to be beating the other two with relative ease, while poor Florence was still trying to figure out the controls. They both looked about as young as Morgan, as evidenced by the fact that Tina was wearing Morgan's overalls and Florence had the long yellow shirt that Morgan was wearing. This, of course, left Morgan with only her underwear.

"Morgan..." Brian had his face buried in the palm of his hand.

"Uh-huh?" Morgan paused the game.

"If you needed clothes for them, you could have asked and I would have got some from my sister's room..."

"But they're fine with my clothes..."

"Then I'll get some for you. I know you don't care about this kind of thing, but I'd like you to at least put something on. Please?"

"Fine..." Morgan said dejectedly. She stood up and walked past Brian into the hallway. Brian just looked on and sighed.

"Hey, Brian." "Hi, Brian." The other two girls greeted him.

"Hey, girls. Everything okay? You didn't hurt yourselves on the way in?" They shook their heads. "Good. Good."

"Are you okay, Brian?" Florence asked.

"I am. I just wasn't expected any more surprises." He motioned behind him. "She's actually my neighbor. Andrew's here, too. We go to the same school."

"Isn't it great?" Morgan said, coming back, dressed in Patty's pink shirt and blue shorts. "I can see him whenever I want."

Florence smiled. "We're all together again. Like back at Grandpa's house."

"It is like that, isn't it?" Brian smiled back.

"Have you run into us yet?" Tina asked.

"Not yet. Pretty convinced I will, though." Brian answered. "I mean, we wouldn't just be traveling to each other without meeting for real eventually, right?"

"Uh-huh!" Florence nodded. "I wanna see you soon! Just like Morgan did."

"I'm sure we will."

"Just you wait." Tina smirked. "I'm sure that in this time, and I'm older than all of you!"

"Well, won't that be a surprise." Andrew said, suddenly coming into the room. "I almost don't want it to happen."

"There you are." Tina said, standing up. She calmly walked up Andrew and swiftly kicked him in the knee.

"Ow!" Andrew bent down, holding his knee. "What the heck was that for?!"

"You'll know why." Tina only gave that as an answer before turning around and sitting back down with Florence and Morgan.

"Be nice, Tina. This is my house, and I have the right to kick you out." Brian warned.

"You wouldn't kick out a kid, would you?" Tina tried her best innocent expression. Not even ten years old, and this girl was a practiced actress.

"No, but I could do this!" Brian then grabbed Tina and began tickling her, aiming for known weak spots like her feet and under arms. Most children are ticklish, and Tina was no exception.

Tina tried her best not to laugh, but she didn't last five seconds. "Stop! Stop it!" She yelled in between bouts of laughter. "That's not fair!" She flailed her arms trying to get him to stop. "I give up! Unc..." She fell silent as she had vanished, leaving Brian holding the overalls she borrowed.

"That wasn't nice." Morgan said.

"Kicking Andrew wasn't nice either." Brian replied, handing Morgan back her pants. "Even if he did deserve it."

"I don't even know what I did! I haven't even done it yet!" Andrew slowly got back up. "Man, that hurt."

"Are you okay?" Florence asked, looking concerned.

"I'll be walking with a limp for a while, but I'll be okay." Andrew walked carefully to Brian's bed and sat down.

"We were playing a good game too." Morgan lamented. "Now who's gonna play with us?"

"Well, Andrew and I just finished homework, so we'll play with you." Brian suggested. "I noticed you were having trouble, Florence. Why don't I play for you, and you watch?"

"Okay!" Florence looked quite happy to hear that. She handed Brian the controller and promptly sat down on his lap. "Just like back at Grandpa's, when you were sitting on Morgan's lap."

Brian laughed back. "Yup." He reminded himself that she's probably from not so long after he first traveled, since she seemed to recall the event so clearly. She looked so happy to be with everyone, that Brian wondered if she was otherwise lonely when she wasn't traveling.

He tried not to let on that he was thinking such depressing thoughts, even after crashing in the game. "Shoot!"

"Are you okay, Brian? That was an obvious turn." Andrew commented.

"Sorry. I wanted to make it easy so Morgan wouldn't throw a fit." Brian tried to pass it off.

"Hmph." Morgan scoffed. "Worry about yourself. I can win this without you giving up on purpose."

In the end, Morgan took second place, while Brian won and Andrew took third. "Hmm...maybe you should have taken it easy on me." Morgan groused.

"Tried to warn you." Brian said. "If you want, you can come over some other time and practice."

"I just might. I'll beat you one of these days." Morgan looked quite serious about it.

"I'm counting on it." Brian grinned. "Did you get a good look, Florence?" He looked down at her, but realized she had nodded off to sleep.

"Poor thing." Andrew said. "Probably traveled past her bedtime, and she just couldn't stay up any longer."

"It's close to when Dad and Patty should be getting home." Brian said. "Let's let her rest here and hang out in the living room." He motioned to lift her up from his lap, but the moment he touched her, she vanished.

"Huh. Usually, you travel back right when you fall asleep, don't you?" Brian asked.

"We don't know the solid rules of it, yet." Brian responded, handing the shirt to Morgan. "But I think she really wants to see us soon."

"You think so?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. I hope it's soon. Now I think Patty would appreciate having her clothes back..."

"Or...I can give these to her, and we can pretend that she's the time traveler!"

"Heh. Whatever you want to do, Morgan. It's not like either of us could stop you, even if we tried."

As Morgan ran off towards the living room, Andrew came up to Brian and asked, "Things are gonna get crazier from here on out, aren't they?"

"Is that any different than how it usually is?" Brian asked in return. "I think we'll be fine."

Hope that satisfies until the next part! Up next, I'll probably do the next part of William and Judith's story. Look forward to it. As always, for questions and comments, just go to the review section.