A FEW VISITORS

CHAPTER 3

CONNOR

He could not regret getting drunk and stealing the Anomaly Locking Mechanism any more than he did at the moment that four more people stumbled through the anomaly.

A girl and three boys appeared in the room as the shards of glass quivered and parted in a chaotic pattern.

The girl and the first boy strolled through as though they had been time-travelling their entire lives, casually stepping into this new world without seeming to care.

The two boys behind them, however, were pushing and shoving each other as they came through, laughing like mischievous schoolboys, but stopped abruptly when they noticed the adults surrounding them.

Connor couldn't help but think that the girl that had just arrived looked like the product of a relationship between Abby Maitland and Adam Levine.

The ends of her long, blonde locks were dyed purple, and she had multiple piercings on her ears and nose and one eyebrow. Her jeans were ripped, her makeup was dark and she was short.

She seemed relaxed but intimidating at the same time, unlike the boy that had closely followed her through the anomaly. He was tall, and his thin, lanky frame only emphasised that further.

And Connor nearly had a heart attack when he saw this boy in particular.

He was wearing skinny jeans and converse all-stars, a waistcoat over a Star Wars t-shirt, and his black hair was cut with a long-ish back and a tiny faux-hawk flip at the front. He had big, puppy-dog eyes, and a grin that belonged to someone he knew very well.

It was as if he was staring at himself, only sixteen years younger.

Even the boy's movements were like his own. And it was freaking him out.

Because Connor had fixated his attention on the kid who he looked so similar to, he didn't take notice of the other boys.

One looked to be considerably younger than the other, and was wearing a t-shirt that had the words "I'm Smart" printed onto the front. He had a messy head of thick, brown hair, hazel eyes, and wore a pair of bright, neon green and red shoes that completely clashed with the rest of his outfit.

The other boy was obviously the oldest of them all; he looked about nineteen, maybe twenty. Messy auburn hair, a crooked nose, a crooked smile, and a pair of icy blue eyes adorned his face.

The way his thought process was mirrored through his facial features was all too familiar to the team, too, and when he grinned cheekily at them, he reminded Abby, Becker, Lester (and if Connor had been paying attention, he too) of a certain former teammate.

"Haley, what's going on?" the oldest boy asked Haley. The girl dressed in soldier-like uniform shot him a cold glance.

"Well, lets see... Molly was born... And then 12 years later, she dragged us through an anomaly!" she snapped, causing Molly to look at the floor in shame. "Oh god, this was so irresponsible of you! Now we're here, in god knows what year... Thank goodness we didn't end up in the bloody cretaceous, because I don't even have my EMD with me!" Haley complained.

"Calm down, Haley..." the older boy said. Connor now noticed that he had a thick cockney accent.

"No, I will not— Jake? Why are you here?" Haley said loudly, her train of thought changing tracks when she noticed the younger boy with the "I'm Smart" t-shirt.

"I followed Derek..." he snapped back at her, pointing to the older boy.

"Derek is much older than you! You can't just follow him wherever you please!" she yelled.

"Hey, you can't talk to me like that, you're not mum!" Jake yelled back.

"Mum and Dad from our time aren't here, so, as the oldest sibling, I'm in charge of you!" Haley finished.

Jake's face turned red, and he stared angrily at his shoes with crossed arms.

"Come on, guys, stop arguing, now..." the Connor-Temple-lookalike said softly.

"... There's no need for it." the blonde punk girl added.

"Err, excuse me, but who the hell are you?" Lester asked the kids.

The room fell silent, and the four newcomers looked around at the people Molly and Haley had already been semi-introduced to.

"...Hold on..." Jake said, as he realised something that the others already had.

The Connor-boy spotted actual Connor and his eyes grew wide. Connor's own eyes had remained wider than Kim Kardashian's arse throughout this entire time, but when he and the boy made eye-contact, there was a strange jolt of energy in the air between them.

Then, the boy burst out laughing. And Connor began to laugh nervously.

Becker, Jess, Matt, Emily, Derek, Lester, Abby, Haley and the blonde punk girl just stared at them. The blonde girl and Abby sighed simultaneously.

And nobody noticed Jake ignoring them all and staring at Becker, slack-jawed in awe.

"Will you please stop laughing, Sid? It's not really the time." the blonde girl said to the tall boy.

Sid?

"Oh, chill out, Nancy." Sid said back.

Nancy?

Sid and Nancy?

"... Your names are Sid and Nancy?" Connor asked the pair.

"Umm, yeah." Nancy replied.

Connor looked at Abby, who he was certain was thinking the same thing as him.

"Are you brother and sister?" Abby asked.

Jake answered for them.

"They're twins." he said.

"Jake! Shut up! They're not supposed to know that!" Haley snapped.

"God, Haley! You're such a bitch! Leave me alone!" Jake snapped back at her.

"You are such a little brat..." she retorted, and the two began to bicker loudly, approaching one another and shouting into each other's faces.

Jess stood up, and, sensing that she should try and keep the peace, attempted to intervene.

"Haley started it! You saw, it wasn't me!" Jake yelled at her.

That was when Becker stepped in.

"Hey, don't yell at Jess like that, you don't even know her." the Captain warned.

Jake stared at him.

"You don't know anything!" he shouted, shocking Becker.

"Oi, don't talk to action man that way, mate." Connor said, defending his friend.

"Jake has a point, though..." Derek said.

"I think you've done enough, Derek." Haley hissed. "You lead him here."

"I was just following Sid and Nancy!" Derek said.

"Hey, don't blame this on me!" Sid said. "...Blame Nancy."

"What?" Nancy yelled.

"How's it her fault?" Abby asked.

"It just is!" Sid whined.

"Good explanation..." Emily giggled, listening in on the conversation.

"I was following Haley." said Nancy.

"And I was following Molly! Because she's not disciplined, and steps through bloody anomalies all the frigging time!" Haley ranted.

"Hey, she's just a little girl..." Matt pointed out.

"Easy for you to say, you're not years away from home!" Haley retorted.

"Will you all just SHUT UP!" Lester practically screamed.

It was chaos. Apparent strangers, bickering and yelling at each other in the middle of the A.R.C. The other staff members and soldiers just stood watching, not really knowing what to do.

"Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Lester screamed, so loudly that everyone fell silent.

Derek silently moved Haley away from Jake, because he was sure she was about to punch him.

"Good. Now, will someone please explain to me just what is going on here, and who you all are?" Lester demanded.

Standing next to Derek, Haley calmed down... And realised that Molly had been absent throughout the duration of the giant quarrel.

"Where's Molly?" she asked.

Everyone looked around.

"She's gone." Abby said.

"Not again..." Sid whined.

There was a collective sigh from the younger people in the room.

"Well, lets find her!" Lester ordered. "I don't want a little girl running around in my building, which happens to be filled with very expensive equipment and technology!"

Everyone split up, calling out Molly's name and praying she hadn't gotten into even more trouble.

BECKER

The first place Captain Becker went to check was the weapons storage room.

Because the last thing he wanted to deal with was a mischievous tween girl with her hands on an Electro Muscular Disruption weapon.

He tread quietly along the halls, his EMD raised (again, out of sheer habit), listening out for any signs of the twelve year old who knew his name.

He wondered whether or not she knew his first name. She hadn't mentioned it, but he still made a mental note to be extra nice to her, just in case she decided to 'accidentally' let it slip.

He didn't want anyone but Jess knowing his secret, that was for sure.

The were no signs of her in the halls, and his mind began to wander. He pondered about where these kids were from, and why they were so oddly comfortable around everyone he worked with.

They must be from the future, he decided. And from the Anomaly Research Centre, too- the one named Haley had the A.R.C logo on her shirt, so that was confirmed.

Was he related to one of them?

What if one of them was his... Child?

What if he had a family?

He stopped in his tracks and elaborated silently on this thought.

If one of them was his kid, then they would have to have a mother, too.

He dared himself to guess who he'd end up with.

Maybe he'd end up marrying a celebrity, or a supermodel or something. Megan Fox, perhaps? Mila Kunis? Eva Mendes? Scarlett Johanson? Rihanna?

Hey, it could happen. Maybe he'd steal Stacy Kiebler away from George Clooney...

Okay, things were getting off track now.

Realistically... Who might he end up starting a family with?

The obvious person that came to mind was Jess. Hmm. Jessica Becker. Mrs. Jessica Becker.

It sounded nice.

But what if Jess... Died? What if something happened?

What if she broke up with him, or they got a divorce?

What if he was a single father in the future?

No, he couldn't think that way. He wouldn't.

He decided then and there, in the empty hallway, that he would figure out which kid was (if any) his son or daughter, and interrogate them until he found out who their mother was.

He had to know.

But, of course, once Molly was found, they would all be sent home. It was the correct, professional thing to do.

But he was still human, after all... It was only normal for him to be curious.

He stopped in his tracks suddenly when he heard a shoe squeak nearby.

He listened carefully. The noise had come from around the corner, so he crept silently up against the wall, knowing for a fact that someone was around the other side.

He waited a moment, and then jumped out into the corridor, expecting to catch the person off-guard.

Instead, he found himself standing face-to face with Haley.

Apparently, she had had the same thought process as him, and had been trying to catch him off-guard as well.

They sighed and rolled their eyes at exactly the same time as one another.

"Well, you're not Molly." he said.

"I could say the same thing." said Haley.

"Well... She's not around here. I suggest we go down the east corridor." he said.

"Agreed."

They walked down the hall in silence, each of their minds now on the task at hand.

"Is Jake your brother?" Becker asked her after a while.

Haley snorted, as if the question was ridiculous.

"Yeah. He is. Unfortunately." she replied.

"You're not very nice to each other."

"Well, I just get frustrated with him. I'm the soldier out of us all. It's my job to protect them, but he doesn't make it an easy job for me. Sometimes I feel like a babysitter." she explained.

Becker chuckled.

"I certainly know exactly how that feels." he said.

They smiled at each other, Haley with a knowing glint in her eye, and continued patrolling the halls.

"Its harder for me than you, though. You're a well respected soldier, you have a distinguished military record, and you worked in Special Ops before Lester recruited you." she said. "Me— I'm still in training at Sandhurst."

Becker stopped in his tracks once more and raised his eyebrows, totally baffled.

"How do you know these things?" he asked.

Haley realised she had just let her knowledge of him slip, and bit her lip nervously.

"To quote the infamous Molly... I can't tell you."

"Seriously, tell me." he demanded.

"Piss off." she laughed.

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'piss off'."

Becker was shocked by her forwardness.

"I wouldn't talk to me like that, if I were you. I have a hundred men under my command— I can have you put in solitary confinement, or worse, with just a click of my fingers."

Haley raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, please. I have two hundred men under my command."

JESS

Jess had, somehow, ended up looking for Molly... With Jake.

They both called out the little girl's name, searching in office rooms, under desks and in closets and such.

It was when she was crawling around on the floor during one of these searches that she noticed Jake's shoes.

"Nice shoes..." she laughed.

"Hey, I like them." he said defensively.

Jess had gotten to her feet, and stood facing him. He was taller than her, and already about 5'7" at such a young age; once he'd finished growing he would surely be over 6 foot tall.

"I wasn't being sarcastic." she assured him. "I really like them."

Jake smiled lopsidedly at her.

"Thanks... I like shoes, see. My friends make fun of my shoes. They say they're weird, too bright and silly and I'm too choosy about them." he explained.

"You know, I'm exactly the same. Because I wear really high heels in all different colours, people think it's odd. But it's not, I just express my self through my shoes." she said.

"Exactly!" Jake agreed.

She laughed at the boy. He was probably fourteen, maybe fifteen. His eyes we gorgeous... Soft and hazel, just liken those of a certain Captain she knew.

"You're quite tall, aren't you? How old are you?" she asked him.

"I'm fifteen. My sister's seventeen. But she's pissed off because I'm taller than her. She has that Napoleon Syndrome, you know?" Jake laughed. "She's only 5'4"— she gets that from... Mum."

"You paused."

"What?"

"You paused before you said 'mum'. Why?"

"No reason."

"Okay, then."

As they looked around various rooms and storage closets, calling out Molly's name, Jess couldn't help but stare over at Jake's familiar eyes.

"Jake... What's your surname?" Jess asked him, as nonchalantly as possible.

"It's—" He was about to tell her, but stopped when he realised he wasn't allowed.

He smirked.

"Nice try."

Jess decided to try and get more information about these visitors before they left, which they would inevitably have to in a short while, after Molly was found.

"What year are you from?" she asked.

"Nope. Not telling." he replied quickly.

"You work at the A.R.C, right?"

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"Haley's shirt has the logo on it." Now it was Jess' turn to smirk.

"Damn... Okay, well, since you figured that out yourself, I can answer your question with a 'yes'." he replied quietly.

"What's your position?" Jess questioned him.

Jake looked over his shoulder cautiously, as if to make sure Haley wasn't going to hear him and scold him, before answering Jess.

"I go out on missions sometimes... But I'm training to be field coordinator." he said proudly.

Jess' chest filled with pride.

"That's my job!" she squeaked excitedly.

"I know." he chuckled. "Haley's doing military training at Sandhurst at the moment, but I'm good with computers and the A.D.D..." he continued. He pointed to his t-shirt. "I graduated school last year with 13 GCSEs. I'm smart."

He and Jess both grinned.

Jess dared to ask him one last question. Then she would drop it, she decided.

"...Who are your parents?" she asked.

Jake froze, and avoided making eye-contact with her.

"Can't tell you. Sorry." he mumbled.

And so Jess began to plead with him.

"Please! Please, please, please, tell me! I won't tell anyone, and I'm dying to know, because I think I've figured it out, but I need to know!" she begged. "Please! I know you're one of our kids... And you'll be going home once we've found Molly, and I'll meet you in the future anyway! Pretty please with cherries on top?"

Jake sighed.

He opened his mouth to tell her, but was then interrupted by Matt's voice shouting everyone into the other room.

Jake smirked at her, and jogged out of the room. Jess ground her teeth together in frustration, and moved (as fast as humanly possible in five inch heels) out of the room after Jake.

She supposed that Matt had found Molly and she would never find out the answer.

She would have to wait a few years and see.

How wrong Jessica Parker was.