A FEW VISITORS
CHAPTER 8
JESS
The last thing she remembered was feeling really bad about something.
She tripped. She smacked her head. It would have hurt a lot more if she hadn't drank so much wine.
When she came to, she was lying in a bed— a bloody comfortable bed, at that— and the bed sheets wrapped around her felt soft and smelt nice and made her want to drift back off to sleep.
She could hear that familiar rainfall pattering against the window, but she knew she wasn't in her own bedroom or her own bed, like any regular morning. Compared to this, her mattress might as well have been made of bricks and needles and sandpaper— it was as though she was lying in the bed of the goddess Aphrodite herself.
The comfort of the bed was almost enough to make her forget the pounding headache she had, or ignore the way her forehead throbbed and burned when she moved her facial muscles. She felt hot and achey and bruised all over, too, and as sick as a dog.
But it was her fault for drinking. And, god, while Jake and Haley and the other kids were in her care... Why couldn't she have behaved more like Becker?
And then she realised whose bed she was in.
He'd sacrificed this bed for her until the future-kids went home?
This bed?
While he slept on the couch?
Was he a saint?
God, she could get used to waking up in this bed every morning.
Why wasn't she shagging this man yet?
And why were her thought processes so strange this morning? Perhaps she was still a little bit drunk...
Jess closed her eyes tightly, trying to ignore the growing pain in her skull, but opened them again when she heard the door creak open.
Becker's face appeared, peaking into the room, and she smiled weakly at him.
He has nice hair, was the first thing that came to her mind.
"Hey..." he said quietly. "How are you doing?"
"Good." she croaked, he voice coming out raspy and shaky.
He stepped into the dark room and closed the door behind him, walking over to her and switching on the lamp beside the bed.
"You don't sound too good." he said, tilting his head sympathetically at her. She sighed, and he took a seat next to her. "Then again, you have a hangover and a concussion, so I don't really expect you to be as bright as a daisy."
Jess changed the subject, to the only thing she could think about at that moment.
"I'm so sorry." she began. "I don't remember too much about last night, to be honest, but I know I feel really bad about something. I think I said—"
"Jess. Don't worry about it."
She stopped speaking, and her conscience relaxed slightly.
Becker grinned in amusement, and something told Jess he was finding whatever she'd done quite funny.
"Everyone was far too drunk. You didn't say anything that I haven't dealt with, anyway, and it's not your fault." he assured her.
Jess smiled in relief.
"Thanks."
She propped herself up on her elbows, but a surge of dizziness hit her as her very unstable equilibrium threw a wobbler.
"No, no. You're not getting up, Miss Parker. Doctor's orders." Becker said, gently pushing her back down onto the pillow.
"Did you say before that I have a concussion? Did I go to the hospital?" she asked confusedly, shutting her eyes tightly to try and stop the room from spinning.
She felt like she was in a tumble-dryer.
"Don't you remember?" he asked her. "Of course not... Well, yes, Derek and I took you to the hospital. You were completely out of it for about five minutes, and then on the drive there, you came to. But you weren't acting right, you were talking all sorts of crap. The doctors examined you. Turns out you have a concussion, and you split your forehead open. Seven stitches."
"Oh... Wow." Jess gingerly felt the area on her forehead that hurt so intensely, and indeed, there were stitches.
"Yep. Apparently your countertops have very sharp edges… We had to keep you awake for eight hours, too."
"Eight hours?" she yelped. "I was awake for eight hours, and I don't remember any of it?"
"Apparently not. You were very groggy, talking about some of the strangest things, including killing a miniature poodle of some sort." Becker said.
Jess groaned.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"It's six o'clock. In the afternoon. On Thursday." he said.
It was Thursday? She'd spent almost an entire day asleep?
Well, this bed was so damn comfortable, she couldn't blame herself...
"What about work?" she asked.
"Lester was understanding, to a certain degree, of course. No new anomaly alerts, so it's not a major problem; Connor watched the A.D.D for you. And I took the day off to stay here."
Becker, the man married to his job, had taken the day off to look after poor little her.
Jess was so grateful, it hurt her head even more.
"Thank you. Thank you so much for looking after me." she said.
He smiled, a heartfelt smile, that showed he felt appreciated.
"It's no problem whatsoever, Miss Parker. Now, I know this sounds crazy, but you should get some more sleep. Your brain needs to heal. Meanwhile, I'll go pick up your painkillers from the chemist."
She sighed and nodded, and Becker stood and turned the lamp off once more.
He left the room, and she was alone in the darkness once more, listening to the familiar rainfall pattering against the window in the ridiculously comfortable bed.
DEREK
Today had certainly not turned out the way Derek Quinn had predicted it would, that was for sure.
Firstly, he was stuck in the year 2012.
Secondly, he'd seen six o'clock pass about five times in what felt like the span of twenty four hours, which just made no sense at all.
Thirdly, he'd witnessed the seemingly sensible adults who raised him get totally pissed, and then rushed a young version of the Jess Parker he knew to the hospital.
Quite frankly, though, all of the other kids were overjoyed that they'd seen their 'responsible' parents get totally shit-faced and drunk; it was hilarious, and it was something none of them would ever forget when they were next being lectured on their behaviour.
When Derek had woken up that morning, in his world, he'd done the usual.
Breakfast, showered, dressed, driven to work, bugged Colin Lester, filed his long-overdue report on the raptor that had wreaked havoc in Madame Tussaud's last month, tested Nancy's security system for any weak spots, flirted with Haley, argued with Haley, made out with Haley in storage room 27-J, helped Sid carry the new menagerie equipment inside, played hangman with Molly while she waited for her dad to arrive back at work, shot Jake with the newly modified EMD gun, and fell through a giant fucking anomaly.
That then proceeded to close up.
That last part, however, wasn't "the usual".
And now, he was stood in the flat of one Captain Hilary Becker, wondering if god hated him or he was just born unlucky.
Perhaps having outrageously bad luck was just imprinted into your genes if you were the son of Danny Quinn.
Becker reemerged from his bedroom, in which Jess was currently lying with a nasty head injury, and picked up his coat.
"I'm going to pick up Jess' painkillers from the chemist, and get some lucozade and maltesers and things. I'll be back soon." he said, heading for the front door.
Derek watched him from his place in the kitchen, leaning with his arms folded against a countertop.
"Well, I think you should get some sleep when you get back, mate. You've practically been awake for days." he laughed.
"I know. But Jess is my primary concern at the moment, so I'm focusing on her. Sleep can come later. Bye."
And with those words, the A.R.C's Head of Security was gone.
Derek sighed, and ran a hand through his auburn hair tiredly. He was exhausted.
"Maybe you should get some sleep. You look more tired than him." a familiar voice said.
Derek looked up and saw that Haley had joined him, having just stepped out of the spare bedroom.
She closed the door behind her, and crossed her arms, smirking at him the ways she always did.
"Me? Tired? Well, that's odd... I've been getting so much rest lately..." he said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Haley chuckled at him.
He stood up straight and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Can't you sleep?" he asked her.
"No. Jake sounds like a vacuum cleaner when he snores, and he keeps hitting me in his sleep and talking." she spat. Derek grinned smugly.
She walked over to the counter and looked up at him, the height difference between them noticeable as she stood at only 5'4" while he was 6'2".
"You alright there, Smurfette?" he asked cheekily.
"I'm fine, thanks, Dumbo." she quipped.
"I'm glad to hear that, Thumbelina."
"I'm not that small."
"Of course not, munchkin."
"Shut up."
"Sure thing, half pint."
"Seriously, shut up."
"No problem, oompa loompa."
"Stop talking."
"Okay, inch-high-private-eye."
"Derek, shut the fuck up."
"What? Don't feel bad, you're just vertically challenged, babe."
Clearly having had enough of the conversation, Haley punched Derek in the stomach.
He coughed and spluttered, doubling over in pain and clutching his abdomen.
"Oh, sorry, what's that? I couldn't hear your next insult over all of the crying." she said, smugly.
He stood up straight and grinned at her.
"Oh. That was a good one, got me right in the solar plexis." he said. "Who taught you how to punch?"
"You, actually."
They laughed at one another, and he bent down to kiss her. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her toes while he wrapped his arms around her waist.
Derek had only intended to give her a quick smooch, but apparently Haley wanted to prolong the moment. He easily lifted her onto the countertop, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her hands along his neck and back and through his hair.
His mind went fuzzy and he forgot all about what year, date or time it was, and suddenly he wasn't so tired anymore. Maybe he didn't have such bad luck, after all.
"God, can't you two keep your hands off each other for five seconds?" Jake spat in disgust, emerging from the spare bedroom.
Nope, there it was. The curse of the Quinns.
Derek and Haley sighed simultaneously, pulling away from each other mid-kiss.
"What do you want, you little twerp?" Haley hissed at him.
"I woke up. I was bound to at some point. Believe it or not, humans don't hibernate." he snapped back.
"Well, you may not hibernate, but your hair looks like a hedgehog." she said bluntly, hopping down off the counter. Derek laughed when Jake's face dropped.
"Fuck you both." Jake snarled quietly, turning and retreating to the bathroom.
They both knew he had gone to fix it in the bathroom mirror— Jake was very particular about his hair.
"I think you really upset him." Derek said, matter-of-factly. "You know we daren't speak ill of Jake's hair."
"Yep. He gets that from Dad." Haley sighed.
"Speaking of your father..." said Derek. "It's really hard to act like we're not dating when our 'hosts' are around. I can't look at you the wrong way, else he might shoot me."
"Derek, that makes no sense at all. It's stupid. He doesn't know who I am, and he doesn't know I'm his. And he doesn't know that I'm even going to be born, for that matter." she said. "Besides, I don't know what you're scared about— he shoots you in our time, anyway. All the time. On purpose. Just for the hell of it because you're my boyfriend."
He ignored the last part.
"You heard Jess last night. They've all figured it out." he whispered, nodding towards the bedroom door behind which Jess lay.
Haley sighed reluctantly.
"I know. What if... What if we've caused the butterfly effect, here? If they wanted to, they could stop us from even existing, at this point." she whispered.
"That won't happen, and we can't think like that. We'll just have to wait until we can get home, like Matt said."
They stood in silence for a minute, each considering a handful of dreadful possibilities.
Then, Haley's features broke out into a grin.
"I've got to admit... It's fun, though. Seeing them all at this age. They're so young, and naive." she giggled. "They have no idea what's in store for them."
Derek smiled too.
Haley quietened down and looked at him sadly.
"...Do you wish your dad was here?" she asked him in a hushed voice. "So you could see the 2012-version of him?"
"Nah. I don't think he would be much different, anyway." Derek chuckled. "Besides, I have a feeling we might still run into one of my parents yet."
"You mean..."
"Mum."
a/n: A slightly shorter chapter, sorry people! I've been unwell and mentally exhausted lately, and on top of that I'm studying for exams. So I apologize if I don't get back to your messages or update as often as I used to. Not to make excuses, of course… Anyway, hope you enjoyed! And thank you for your continued support!
