A/N: Chapter One complete! Wow, another two in one night, I can't believe it and I wrote the damn thing. This is more filler, a real look into how everyone's lives have been since Nick disappeared and how they each cope (or not, really) with the loss. Next chapter will definitely be actual forward-moving plot. Also, in regards to my misstep in the Prologue, while I did have Veronica tell Nick about Sameera's pregnancy in her mind first, she said it again because one, I forgot I wrote that tiny bit beforehand and also because Nick had already been having a long day, he's allowed to forget even something as important as his girlfriend being pregnant lol.

Chapter One

The New Daily

Later That Night, Fitch House..

Nick lay on the bed in what he assumed was a guest bedroom since Veronica hadn't really elaborated on what exactly the room was in relation to her family, but the assumption seemed right with the lack of personal items around the room. He hadn't been able to sleep yet, not knowing he was stuck almost thirty years in his own past when his girlfriend was pregnant and probably needing him. She has Rhonda and the others, though. They won't let her sink. "I'm sorry, Meera. I should be home with you."

"You should," Came Veronica's voice from the doorway, her body leaning on the frame of the door. "I hate that you're stuck here just as much as you, Nick. You deserve to be back there with Sameera, not in some alternate yet same past timeline I've already lived through, stuck with a girl who is both your mother and lover. I mean, you win in both worlds." She shrugged.

"I liked you better in Rhonda's body. More mature with your intentions." He laughed, rolling his eyes.

Veronica copied his gesture. "I'm sorry but either way I was still inside a teenager's body, only now it's my own and I recognize my feelings more easily than I could decipher Rhonda's and mine mixed together. And yes, while I am out of that stage of my adolescence, I am still a virgin in this time, so there's a lot of pent-up frustration."

"Oh my God do we really have to talk about this right now?"

Veronica giggled. "Nope, but I like seeing you flustered. Honestly, Sameera and I have that in common."

"About me or my being flustered?"

"A bit of both, really. Although I meant more like how I found you and Sameera that day at school, just inside the entrance and her about to rip your clothes off."

Nick nodded, remembering the day although it felt like it had happened years ago now. "Ah. Well, still, mom, I'm not trying to sleep with you, no matter how hot you look." He groaned as he realized his tongue slipping and sighed.

Veronica just smiled widely. "At least I know you do think that." Before Nick could say anything else, she giggled again and ran off.

"Ronnie.. Oh, what am I going to do with you?" Nick shook his head, closing his eyes to try and get some semblance of sleep.

Veronica, meanwhile, ran into her bedroom. Or, rather, her and Bianca's bedroom, the sisters being close enough in age not to care about sharing a room. She was still giggling like mad when she threw herself onto her bed, Bianca looking over at her as she sat up in her bed, reading Romeo and Juliet for school. "So, that's your boyfriend, then?"

Veronica blushed then. "Not.. no, not really. Yet, at least. I'll get him." I already did it once, how hard could it be to do a second time?

"He is a real cutie. Where did you find that stray, then?"

"What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Ronnie. I've known you for sixteen years, I can tell when you're hiding something. Plus, I've never even seen that guy before, at school or around town otherwise. So where did he come from?"

"Bianca, drop it. Believe me, you wouldn't believe the truth even if you had been there."

Confused but not deterred, Bianca shrugged. "Whatever. I'll figure it out eventually. How did you guys meet?"

"At work. Yeah, he's related to Mr. Miller, some distant cousin or something. The boss lives in a studio apartment next to work, nowhere near big enough for Nick to stay, too. So he asked if I could possibly shelter Nick for a bit, at least until Nick gets settled into town. His part of the family moved out of state when he was just a baby." Smooth lying, Ronnie. She told herself, sighing mentally.

"Mm. Well, you should go for it, if you really feel for him like it seems. Or maybe I'll step up. He's much better looking than any of my exes." Veronica somehow held her eyebrow from twitching in annoyance.

"As true as that is, back off Bee. He's mine." Even as she said it, Veronica heard her thoughts. Although maybe she has a point..

Meanwhile, 2022..

Rhonda sat in the chair in the office, her hands wringing around each other nervously as the therapist stepped in. "Hello, Rhonda. Or is today more of Veronica day?" She asked, smiling.

"Rhonda today, but it really doesn't matter. Both sides of me answer to either name."

"Alright, I guess you have mentioned that to me before. So, to begin, how has your week been? Any episodes like the one that put you in these sessions?" Rhonda had gone full Veronica after someone had talked trash about Nick, the day the teens went back to school after the holiday break. The offender still had the bandages on his nose from Rhonda breaking it.

The girl shook her head. "No, I've been able to rein her in when it comes to that."

"Good, good. Now, you haven't yet told me where this Veronica first came from. Would you care to elaborate on that now, after we've had some time to know each other?"

Rhonda sighed. "I told you how it happened. When we got trapped in the Pizzaplex last summer, I was possessed by Veronica's spirit. You can find her name on the Victim Memorial in the town square, Veronica Fitch. Afton used her for his plans for the years between nineteen ninety-eight when she was killed by him until we, us teenagers involved, broke through the brainwashing and she became a friend to us all. But, we could take her consciousness from mine, so I was left with two different personalities for a few months. Until Christmas Eve, well morning I guess. It was after midnight, after all.

"Nick and Veronica had some weird powers, able to hurt Afton who obviously wasn't dead like this town wanted to believe. Veronica saw Nick about to fail in fending off the killer's influence from taking him over and sacrificed her own spirit to save him. I felt her mind leave mine, but I was never the same afterward, although it wasn't apparent until I broke Gayle's nose in school."

The therapist wrote her little notes, which reflected the same story she had been told each session, revealing why Rhonda seemed a bit annoyed at retelling the tale. But Rhonda hadn't told her all she needed to know about the situation, it seemed. "Alright. Now, I know what Nick you're speaking of. Afton's grandson, correct?" Rhonda nodded. "And why exactly did Veronica sacrifice herself for a teenager she had barely really known? Seems awfully strange to me. And where is Nick these days?"

"You know as well as I do that Nick hasn't been found or turned up dead, so we still have hope he'll come back home. We have to, for Sameera's sake at least. Plus, the relationship Veronica and Nick had, as she had told me, is something I can't share, although it couldn't affect the past if I did tell, I guess."

The therapist looked at her, this was the first time Rhonda or Veronica had mentioned any form of time. "And what do you mean by that? The past? Like, back at Christmastime?"

Rhonda shook her head with a laugh as Veronica came out. "Oh, no, nothing as close to now, doc. No, we were talking about nineteen ninety-eight, when I first met Nicky. That's why we're confident he'll come back, because he helped stop Afton back then, even losing me originally in the process. For all we know, Christmas was the catalyst leading to Nick being a part of my past in the first place, and his going back to that time is just another step forward for time itself."

"Interesting theory, although I believe most scientists would disagree with it."

"Fuck them. Science can't explain a lot when it comes to anything pertaining to the Afton Family as a whole, Nick included."

The therapist nodded. "Yes, I can see the logic in that. Now, Veronica, while I have you out I would like to ask about these past events a little bit, if that's okay?"

Veronica nodded. "Fine. I'd have to tell you about it eventually, right? Although, I have a question for you, before we begin interrogating me. What exactly is your opinion on us? Officially, I know Rhonda and I are considered a case of D.I.D or split-personality, but that's not truly the case. The fact of the matter is that I am the remnants of my own mind that somehow melded into Rhonda's brain permanently, and what I did for Nick on Christmas fractured my spirit into this state. I was supposed to disappear, completely, by saving Nick and that was not the case in the end."

"I see. Well, I believe your story, but only due to my own childhood fascination with science fiction. I'd like to believe it all did happen and even as it has or did, there's simply not enough physical proof to the contrary. You know your body was never found after all these years, right Ronnie?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I know that. So what do you want to know?"

"Tell me how your life was back then, perhaps? Not your whole life story, of course. No, what I'm most interested in about your past is how you even came to be under William Afton's control as you put it."

Veronica was now wringing her hands together. "I.. I didn't have the best life back then, I'll admit. I fought with my parents a lot, I was bullied in school for being a nerd. I was working as a waitress part-time at the diner just outside town, where Sameera works now. But I wasn't happy, not really. Not until Nick appeared in my life."

"And you fell in love with him, I'm guessing? As Rhonda and Sameera both did?"

The girl nodded wearily. "Yeah, I did. He was the first boy who didn't make it out like I was a nobody, he showed me that he cared. Unfortunately, Afton got wind of it, probably having had me in his sights for a while and kidnapped me one night just after my shift at work. All I remember from then until last year was being in a concrete room and was being fed subliminal messaging by Afton in order to blindly follow his orders. I was brainwashed, basically. Then he killed me for my now-enslaved spirit and the rest is history."

"Quite. That is quite an enlightening tale, but then how did you know the Nick of the present was the same from your past, then?"

"He was too similar to the Nick I met in the nineties not to be the same guy. I realized it when he told me about Sameera, how he had been lost to time and would possibly never see her again. I think that was when I started developing my own feelings for him."

"Alright, I could see why, I've seen similar occurrences before. Now, this is a big one so I understand if you'd rather not talk about it, but if Nick was present back in the nineties but then disappeared around the same time as you originally did, then how did he come to be in this timeline once again? Surely his presence before he was even born changed something back then?"

Veronica nodded, suddenly nervous. She'd said it before, but it still sounded like a hail Mary in terms of an explanation. "It had to, I guess. But, we tried to make sure he would be around in this time to make sure whatever happened to me, he was still around to stop Afton. It had become a mission of Nick's to end everything his grandfather was, but he knew without insurance he may never exist in general after I was lost. Or so I would think. His mother, Rhiannon? She was my best friend back then, my only friend, really. She had gotten into a bad accident and-"

"She lost the ability to have children herself, yes. I found that little fact out after it became clear Nick was so important to you all, you girls, Sameera, even Leon."

"Yeah.. So, Nick didn't know about it until I mentioned it to him, and he honestly freaked out." She giggled. "It was actually kind of cute, but I digress. After he calmed down, we started thinking of ideas to help him still exist because it seemed it would be impossible for Rhiannon to give birth to him naturally. And we came up with a plan that, amazingly, worked."

"And that was?"

"Umm.. heh, well.. you see.. We froze my eggs and his sperm and told Rhiannon she was the only one who had access to them unless she couldn't keep up the storage costs or if she decided she didn't want to have a child in general. I'm glad she used them, to be honest."

The therapist was stunned. If what Veronica was telling her was true, then.. "Wait, so you mean to tell me that, for all intent and purposes, you are-"

"Nick's biological mother, in a way, yeah. Now do you see why I put myself on the chopping block for him?"

The therapist nodded, placing her glasses on her desk as she punched the bridge of her nose. "Yes, I believe I understand it now. Alright, girls, I think that's enough for today. Thank you, Veronica, for sharing so much. I can tell it's hard for you to relive."

Veronica just nodded as her head shook, switching to Rhonda again as she got up from the chair. "Alright, doc. Same time in two weeks?"

"Yes, that will be fine. Oh, actually I do have one last question, Ronnie. Did Nick know? About the baby he has on the way?"

Rhonda shook her head. "No, not that I knew. He never mentioned it, and I mean I slept with him quite a few times, so I figure he would have brought it up."

The therapist laughed. "That does seem like the right thing to do. Alright, girls. Have a good night, alright?"

"You too, doc." Rhonda said as she left the office, the therapist frowning.

"Everything she said was true, but then Nick really is an unknown factor in all this. Why is he so special to connect those three girls in the same way?"

Survivor House..

Sameera had just gotten home from a day of shopping with Rhiannon, Nick's mother being all too excited for the baby on the way, even knowing her son may not ever be there for his own child. She placed the couple of light bags she was carrying down next to the bed and stood at the desk, tracing her finger along a swirling pattern that was the picture frame for the picture of herself and Nick, tears beginning to sting her eyes as she blinked, trying to keep them away.

"Oh, Nicky.. Where are you? I know you're alive, I can feel it, but why won't you just come home? We have a big job to do, and I don't want to do it alone. Right, little one?" She rubbed her pregnant belly and started humming a song, smiling as Nick's child kicked from the sound of her voice.

"Whether he comes back or not, Meera, that little girl isn't growing up without family." Said Leon, standing in the door with a smile on his face. "Pregnancy looks good on you, though."

Sameera rolled her eyes. "Yes, as you and so many others around town won't stop telling me, Leo. Where's Rose?"

"Trying to get Rachel out of the tree in the backyard. She's channeling a lot more of Roxy than herself at the moment.

"Uh oh, another crying spell?"

"Yeah, and we can't figure out why, not even Anton. Elizabeth tried going to her, but Rachel shocked Liz back to the ground."

"Poor Rachel. I'll go see if I can figure out what's wrong."

"No, we'll figure it out. You focus on keeping yourself rested, Meera. It's pretty important for you right now."

"Yeah, I guess so." She frowned but nodded as Leon left, Sameera sighing again as she looked at the picture once more. "You better fucking come home, you dummy." Another kick made her laugh. "It's nice to see you think so too, my love."

Precinct..

Vanessa, now Bayek's secretary (and case assistant when needed), sighed as she threw a wadded up pice of paper onto his desk. "You know, I miss Afton."

"The fuck makes you say that?" Bayek asked, looking up from the report he had been perusing.

"I mean, not him, obviously. No, I miss the crime bullshit. It's somewhat ridiculous, I know, but I was enjoying being a cop during those few months while Nick and the others bravely defended our town."

"Well, you're officially one now, why don't you go patrol?"

"Because there is nothing to patrol for! Ever since Christmas, there's been less than a single percent of the crime rate in this town than there used to be, and it seems it may all have stemmed from Afton and his schemes. Not to mention with Nick gone.."

"Yeah, I hear you there. I hate seeing Sameera like this, having to go to therapy even though she's the most sane out of those teenagers now, other than Leon. But, I'd rather see her not get depressed than in that state."

"Yeah, the first couple weeks were really hard on her, although I suspect it hasn't gotten easier for her in reality. She still cries herself to sleep most nights, you know."

Bayek nodded. He did know, from the times Sameera had decided sleeping in what was her and Nick's bed was too much and would wind up back at home. "She's a strong girl. She's in pain, but she'll pull through, for her sake and baby's."

"I have no doubt about that. Those kids are more resilient than most. So, is there anything we can look into, at least?"

"Yes, actually. Someone reported a break-in downtown at the computer store. It was one of the last places Nick went before that night, so it may possibly have a connection to our young town hero. If you want to check out what's probably nothing, at least. That part of town reports break-ins all too often which are always found to be pranks, after all."

"Fuck it, I'll check it out. Might as well, I need some time out of this office." She laughed, getting up from her own desk.

Crystal Springs Hospital..

Rhiannon sat at her desk at the nurse's station on the fifth floor, looking through some older files. She heard someone tapping on the desk and looked up to see Rhonda standing there. Or, more like Veronica was present. "Hey, Ronnie." Rhiannon greeted.

"Hey, bestie, you wanna hear how therapy went today?" Rhiannon smirked at her, amused. "I'm tired of going through what we went through twenty six years ago over and over again."

"Well, you were the one who couldn't control their temper and lashed out, Veronica. You wouldn't be in therapy if not for that, although it might have still been suggested. It can't be easy living with two minds in one head like you both do. You make it look easy."

"It's only because we're so similar, Rhonda and I. I mean, we're both in love with Nick, and so is Sameera but she's not part of this conversation. Then theres the fact we both get jealous real quick, but I think that's more a Rhonda thing and it just bleeds into my own psyche."

"It's so weird, talking to my best friend like you've been alive all these years when in reality I'm talking to just a remnant of the original's mind grafted into that of my son's ex-girlfriend."

"How do you think I feel? Rhonda having dated him, and me sleeping with him, must send very mixed signals to your brain, Rhia." Veronica laughed, Rhiannon joining in. "So, what are you up to?"

"Looking into the archive files, maybe seeing if anyone matching Nick's description came in during that time, maybe figure out if he did wind up in the past or not."

"With what Afton must have been planning with that accursed ball pit?" Said ball pit now sat in a corner of the Workshop, collecting dust. "Who knows but if anything happened, it would make sense it sent him back in time. How, I don't know, but that means that I am reliving those events again with Nick right by my side. Again. And honestly, I think that's what keeps causing these headaches. It's too often when I'm trying to think about the past not to be related, right?"

"Maybe. Do you want me to bring you for an MRI? Maybe we should, really. You don't know if there's any adverse effects on Rhonda's body other than the shared quality it has now with your mind entwined."

Veronica frowned. "Not tonight. It's starting to get dark, and Rhonda's starting to worry about Meera."

"That girl.. She has a will of steel, doesn't she? She's depressed, that's for sure, but she can still make it seem like everything is okay."

"And that's partially her job, with Nick not here. Meera and him were like the parents of the group, Vanessa doesn't count. And now, all we can do is support her as she needs it. None of us want to see her like this anymore, the no sleeping and barely eating every other day. It's getting to be an issue, and I'll step in if I have to. That child is also my granddaughter."

"Yes, yes, with the even more ridiculous family connection between the two of us and Nick, I know." To others present who didn't know of Rhonda's second personality or even (miraculously) of the events that had been transpiring in town for decades, it looked like Rhiannon was just dealing with a wandering patient from the psych ward upstairs, which made for even more ridiculous conversations in the nurse's break room. The two continued talking for a while before Rhiannon offered and brought Rhonda back to the Survivor house, the girl settling in for the night, both minds present missing Nick as Sameera was, sighing as they could hear the older girl crying in the room adjacent.

1998..

Nick woke up sweating, looking around in fear for a moment at his still unfamiliar surroundings until he remembered where he was and what had happened that day, his first day living in the past. Although, his night wasn't over but he still found himself outside on the back porch of Veronica"s family home, looking up at the sky and wishing he knew how to get back home to his friends and loved ones. Soon enough, Veronica joined him and leaned into him, the two just silently watching the night sky.