Running Out of Time

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Six: Found

Henry's eyes nearly bugged out of his sockets.

What did she just say?

Less than five seconds later, his boss echoed his sentiments with, "What did you say?"

"I—" Kathryn bit her lip as though she wanted to say something but her gaze flickered between Henry and Ray, looking just as stunned as both of them felt. "That—that's not important right now. We should leave."

"No, no way," Ray snapped, "you don't get to say something like that and just leave it at that. Now, how do you—"

"Look," Kathryn retorted, "do you really want to have this conversation right here, on the streets, where anyone could hear?"

Henry blanched.

Up until that moment, it hadn't occurred to him that anyone could have overheard what Kathryn had said and maybe they'd gotten lucky, since there weren't many people around, but his mom had a point. They really shouldn't be talking about this where any number of people could listen in and put two and two together.

They needed to get out of here.

For once, Ray seemed to agree because he shut his mouth but it was clear from the look that he gave Kathryn that he was highly suspicious of her.

"Fine, where we going?"

"My place," she replied. "I need to grab my bag."

"Your bag?"

"Yes," she said, giving him a dirty look, "the bag that I have packed to go to the hospital in. I didn't think I would need it tonight. We'll swing by, grab it and then you can take me wherever the hell you want to. Capiche?"

"I—" Ray gave up, seeing there was no dissuading her. "Fine."

"Good," she said briskly, walking away. "Come on, my car's over here."

Still wondering what the hell was going on, how the hell she knew that Ray was Captain Man, Henry followed her.

For once, Ray managed to stay completely quiet while they walked down the sidewalk to the parking garage on the other side of the police station. Henry was actually kind of surprised he managed to stay silent that long, especially considering the question that was on all of their minds, but he managed to keep his mouth shut until they reached the car.

And if there was any question as to whether Kathryn was telling the truth or not, it was staring him right in the face when he climbed inside, in the shape of a car seat sitting in the back, properly installed and everything.

Kathryn caught him looking and smiled.

"Yeah, I got that installed yesterday," she told him. "My best friend got that for me two months ago and we spent all that time trying to figure out how to get it working properly, she got her boyfriend and two of his friends to help, and all it took was going down to the firehouse to get some firefighters to help and it was in there in five minutes."

"So I'm guessing you don't want us moving it?"

"I would prefer not," she said delicately, rubbing her stomach again. "Especially if what you're saying is true."

"It's definitely true."

"Well, you'd better get a move on then," she said calmly, "because we're slowly creeping up on midnight."

She climbed in the driver's seat and, after quick glances to one another, Henry and Ray followed suit, the former getting into the backseat and the latter getting into the passenger.

No sooner had the doors closed did Ray open his mouth and say, "All right, we're alone; now tell me how the hell you know that?"

Kathryn hesitated. "I really think this conversation should wait."

"And I say that you need to tell me why, because there is no way that you could possibly know that I'm—"

"Henry," Kathryn interrupted, glancing at him in the rearview mirror, "this is your call. He's—your friend. And . . . this involves you. So, you are the only person in this vehicle that has the right to decide whether you want to know this story now or later."

The way she looked at him, so intensely and warmly, made his insides swell. Everything that had happened tonight, it was so mindblowing that Henry couldn't even think straight but how she knew Ray was Captain Man was important.

He knew that.

And he also knew that they might not be able to have this conversation tomorrow. Either they would be back in the future, or she wouldn't be here to tell it to him.

Feeling his boss's gaze on him, Henry glanced at him before looking to his patiently waiting mother, swallowing thickly.

But then he saw something that changed everything.

"I don't think right now's a good time . . ."

Ray practically slammed his hands down on the dashboard with exasperation. Henry kind of expected this; his boss had a temper and had never been very good at the whole waiting thing. That he'd managed to make it to the car without blowing a fuse was surprising.

"Why the hell not?"

Henry raised a single finger and pointed towards the windshield.

"That's why not."

Both Kathryn and Ray turned to face frontwards.

There, standing less than five feet in front of the car, in all his leather and headband wearing glory, was Drex, wearing a very punchable smirk as he looked at the three of them, his dark gaze lingering on Kathryn in triumph.

For a moment, no one moved. Not him, not Ray, not Kathryn, not even Drex.

Then Kathryn broke the silence.

"I . . . take it that's your friend."

"Not really our friend," Ray said grimly, moving to open the car door but the locks clicked all around him, coming from the driver's seat, and his boss turned to look at Kathryn. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Protecting my kid," she said coldly. "Henry, put your seatbelt on."

Perplexed, he did as he was told, seeing that she already had hers on and was surprised when she told Ray, "You too, Cap."

"You know I'm indestructible, right?"

"Just do it."

Only when everyone was safely buckled up did Kathryn take a deep breath, reaching behind to squeeze his hand briefly before putting the car in drive and, before anyone could ask what she was doing, the car surged forward, tearing out of the parking spot and speeding straight towards Drex.

Henry yelled but no one was more surprised than Drex himself; even from this angle, he could see the villain's eyes widen in alarm before scrambling out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the fast moving vehicle.

His mother never let up on the gas, even as she drove towards him and when he was out of the way, she only picked up speed, smashing through the gate where they were supposed to pay and ending up with several policemen coming out to yell at them, but by the time they got there, the trio was long gone.

"You are insane!" Henry yelled, laughing at the same time.

"Hey, you're in the gene pool," Kathryn told him with a grin back at him, but her smile suddenly faded and her face paled, eyes suddenly bugging out. "Oh, crap."

"What?"

Kathryn looked down, at the driver's seat and that's when Henry smelled something inside the car, something sharp and pungent.

"Shit."

"What?" Ray demanded. "What's wrong?"

She looked at him, then at Henry.

"My water just broke."


AU: Okay, so I finally managed to free up some time to finish this chapter. And I wanted to thank all of you for the lovely reviews, but I want to tell you guys again that I don't have a set schedule for when I'm writing chapters. It really just is whenever inspiration strikes and I have some free time. I've also started a new job, so I'm kind of busy with that. I will finish the last few chapters, but it just might take me awhile.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it was kind of short, but I'll see if I can't free up some time next week. Please review!

Lady Dawson